POETRY

Oh Billie, I dance with you

Holding your waist with my hand

I circle around on tiptoe

Your playful rhythm leaks into my veins

And the salt of your skin sinks into my blood

The sea is far but I hear its sound

The sea is big but fits in my body

Let us cast off our shoes

And step on its sandy carpet

The little waves grab our feet

and draw us toward the green waters

Oh Billie, I dance with you

Holding the hem of your long skirt

I walk gently on the skin of the sea

The wandering wind wraps around our bodies

And the albatross opens its wings on our shoulders

There, across the sea is the land of my childhood

With fragile trees that like the tips of your fingers

Are now growing all over my skin

The sea is borderless but beats in my heart

The earth is vast but fits into my skull

Tonight no border can separate you from me

But... suddenly my hand lets go of the radio antenna

The blues singer begins to whine

Ah, my dance partner is not imaginary!

I hold her waist as before

Her velvet voice rises again

And takes me back to the nightly dance

                              February 28, 2001