Lithe legs spread

Neck stretched

Feet splayed

Like a swan-song

Toes strong

Fingers pulsing

Then snap

A pirouette

A spectacular series

Of whirls on her toes 

He circles her on the ball of his foot 

Musical, muscular movements mingle and mix

A shiver of white as she jumps

A catching of the breath as she slumps

Into his arms;

A choreography of bodies

Leaking across the stage

And into my imagination.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's dream

Of Russian folk lore:

Odette, a princess,

Turned into a swan

By an evil sorcerer's curse. 

Her ending the happy tragedy

Of unity in death-rebirth;

The music and the movement

Move the audience into the lives

Of Siegfried and Odette

Movingly magical music

Leaves us wondering at the strange role fate

Takes in all of our lives.