Song And Dance Poem by Matthew John Aben

I exchange my five dollars
For a stamp and a flimsy piece of paper
Five dollars to understand life
As if five dollars could solve my problems

And I take my seats
Smoke fills the pungent air
So I sit back trying to understand
To watch the Play, Song and Dance
This tug of war between angst and love

The music starts quite, subtle-
As a boy and girl lean enthralled
At the proverbial question
What is this?
And the dance begins

The music continues
Now louder than before, beating
Beating with passion and angst
I watch as a boy grows
I watch as a girl loses

And as the song rages on
The dance becomes clearer
The struggle is perplex… Yet simple
There will be no winner
Because in this dance you will lose

The boy will lose.
The girl will lose.
And you yourself lost.
Lost what you want,
And everything you had.

The proverbial question still burning
What is this?

Yet the context has changed
Now more suitable
“why is this? ”
“How is this? ”
“who is this? ”
Because they truthfully don’t know

I spent five dollars to watch
A boy and a girl lose
Lose themselves, each other, and love

Sitting in a faceless room
With smoke thick as fog
I lower into my chair
Watching my childhood unfold
Wishing for my childhood back