Lithe legs spread

Neck stretched

Feet splayed

Like a swan-song

Toes strong

Fingers pulsing

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

The trick of catching a 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

Sweep me off my feet

Move the audience into the lives

Of Siegfried and Odette

Movingly magical music

Leaves us wondering at the strange role fate (or is it accident?)

Takes in all of our little lives.