DANCING IN WATER.

for Eiko and Koma
 
A frame of driftwood
in the current’s ebb and flow—
clinging to the frame,
the dancers, stiff as driftwood,
curve slowly into stones
while water runs over
their stilled forms.
 
In time they come alive,
are rippling reeds,
swaying stem and buried root,
variously wind, tree,
flower, naked breath
that swells behind
the push to give birth.
 
The dancers are in the river,
the dance is in the river,
the dance is the river.
 
From outside in I found this story:
she almost died,
and he brought her back to life.
 
Dried leaves, discarded and scattered—
let them go; new ones will grow.
A cricket perched on a twig,
graceful and humorous
at the close.