Ball

What are you doing on the floor in animated
conversation with someone else, while the
music plays and the bodies twirl with
each measure, steps taken not alone, every
hand a pair in embrace, why don't you enjoy
this human harmony with me? You are downstairs,
and I, I'm up here, studying you as though you were
an interesting specimen - a thing to be adored
and untouched, why? I am unmasked, and all
intentions are revealed in my eyes and the folds
of my face, I should hide behind something,
another falsehood; I should wear a lie
to come and take your hands. I should be
quick on fastened wings, even as the music plays
and the lilies, locked in pairs, floating
on the surface of the pool twirl to the measures
that are played, coats and gowns and all.
I should swoop from my perch,
where I see you stand oblivious to my presence,
where I watch you stand out - my prey - I should
make the kill and tear you from his grasp into
my own. But I am unmasked. Someone has stolen my guise,
I am myself right now, not that mystery that you'd love
to seize you in the middle of the night - I may not please
as once I did behind a veil, I am revealed in all my awkwardness.
I am not the tale you keep of the past, locked in memory
like that drug you hold in a vial, no I am me, bone, flesh,
kinky hair and a funny breath. This is me, in old clothes,
sandals and stilted conversation- something to laugh at.
Did you know I cannot even dance without some spirit
in my veins?
I cannot talk to you without a mask. Unless I am bravely
stupid. Which I am, sometimes, when the music gets the better
of my thinking. I may need another drink before I jump.