Slow Dance With Me Poem by Emma Atkinson

Slow dance with me,
Softly under these lights,
Neon stars that they are,
Shining in this artificial light,
A rhythmic ocean,
A wild wave of youth,
But here, here where I close my eyes,
Is the softest, gentlest emotion.
Here you hold my hands
As if...as if they were glass.
Perhaps they are grains of sand
You cannot bear to let slip away,
While I...
I never dreamed this would come to pass,
That I would come to dance with you today.

Softly through the din,
I hear you laugh, disbelief, delight...
Softly, as we spin,
My smile, like the stars is bright.
Your feet stumble, and we sway,
And my eyes, crinkling under brown lashes,
Look shyly away,
As my heart crashes
Like a cymbal and drum
Under the warmth of your gaze
That makes my veins begin to hum...
A psychedelic daze...

Your eyes hold a question louder than the song.
Look up, they ask.
Am I wrong?
I open them, slipping out from behind the mask,
And the world explodes.
At the heart of it I find you,
Your dark silhouette encompassing our globe,
Where the light grows soft and blue.
I watch as you smile, at first unsure,
As my eyes flutter to life.
I watch, only to see it grow...of this I am sure.
And it does, until the air between us is rife,
Rife with neon sparks and fireflies,
That shine like in every laughing tear,
And in their sincerity, tell no lies.

I am lost in a tourmaline sea,
And my heart is sewn of butterflies,
Beating their wings ever so softly,
With every touch of your hands that steady me.
I watch, watch as your lips form words that are lost to the tide,
As if they could ever ready me,
My still spontaneous guide,
Who I doubt even planned the turn that is coming,
And yet, your confidence makes me smile,
Really, it is quite stunning.
It is...How time can be suspended, if but for a while,
Between two hands and a song,
Under neon lights, electric stars,
As we drift softly along
In this world of ours.

I drift...away, until the notes dissolve,
Reforming into a rampant beat,
Softly, I watch the world revolve,
A dream crumbling at my feet,
For my hands are empty, and my eyes hold no one.
I realize in that fading moment, it was all a dream,
A dream that felt more real than the sun,
At least, that, that is how it seemed.
Still I know, as surely as night falls,
That only moments ago,
Within these magic walls,
We danced, fingers soft, stepping slow,
Softly under these lights,
Neon stars that they are,
And I dream of future nights,
Nights I hope, that lie not far,
When in the soft blue glow,
You will dance with me again.