Lithe legs spread
neck stretched
feet splayed
in a swan-song.
Toes strong
fingers pulsing
then snap
a pirouette
we'll never forget.

A spectacular series
of whirls, up on her toes
he circles her
on the ball of his foot:
musical, muscular movements mingle, 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
into my imagination.
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s dream
of Russian folk lore made universal:

Odette, a princess,
turned to 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
with movingly magical music
as we wonder at the strange role fate
takes in all of our lives.