In the beginning, I danced alone. Under the stars and above the sea, I danced in the shadows of my own love. The moon kept me company as I fell into my own rhythm, my steps carrying me wherever I wanted to go. My body moved to music that I made in my heart and it was a sound that only I could hear.
In the daylight, I longed for the moon again. The sun had a funny way of pointing out the consequences of my solo dancing. He would shine his light on my feet and show me the dirt and redness that accumulated on the soles. I would tuck my feet beneath me and hide them, proudly keeping a secret that only I, and the moon knew.
At last the moon would come up and the sun would sleep, and back to dancing I would go. One night, I saw a shadow. I strained my eyes to see, but with only the little bit of light from the crescent of the moon, I barely make out the shape of a human. As I danced my way over towards the shadow, I saw a sliver of your face and I felt something inside me that I had never felt before.
Your hair hung in your face and I could not see your eyes. I had been dancing alone for so long that it did not dawn on me to ask for your hand. Instead, I kept my eyes closed and danced tiny, elegant circles around you. You did not join me, but instead stayed sitting, watching me dance to music you could not hear.
On the second night, I spotted you quite quickly, despite the little light that the moon shed. I could feel you this time, somewhere deep in my heart. Again, I danced over to you and extended my hand. You nodded no, and as you did, your hair gently moved out of your eyes and I could see you. I saw deep into your soul and into your past lives. I saw your love and your pain and your desire to watch me dance. And so I did. I danced my tiny, elegant circles around you, but this time I saw you nodding your head to the beat. You could hear inside my heart.
On the third night, I anticipated you. Without looking for you, I danced over and extended my hand again. This time you accepted. I began to move and you planted your feet, bare like mine. You stayed in place as I danced around you once again, my hand still held inside yours. I twirled and laughed and opened my eyes as I spun glorious circles around you. Our eyes met and I saw you light up with me in your view. In that moment, your soul opened up and I took in a deep breath of you inside me. This only made my music play even louder.
This moonlight dancing went on for quite some time, until time came around to a full moon. On this night, I did not even look for you because as soon as the moon came out you were standing in front of me, this time extending your hand to mine. We danced together, first to the music of my heart and then to the music of yours. We combined steps and under the light of the perfectly circular moon, magic happened. I could hear inside your soul and you could hear inside mine. Soon, I felt my body lift. I looked down and saw that you had placed your feet under mine, and we were dancing as if two pairs of feet had become one. You held me close and together we twirled around in my glorious, elegant circles that were being danced by you. Together we created sound and movement that echoed from the depths of our hearts.
And every night since then, I have met you in my dreams. Sometimes we twirl my favorite circles and other times we take turns listening to the sweet rhythm of each other’s music. There are times when the music quiets and I can only hear the methodic sound of your beating heart. I lay with my head on your chest and my eyes gazing up into yours, the hair from the first night, no where to be seen. And this is how it is. I can hear inside you and you can hear inside me and together, we take one another on glorious adventures that only you, I, and the moon know about. Our scared space is our world, and in our world we share the beauty of our souls mingling as one dancing figure, seemingly nothing more than a shadow under the stars, and above the sea. But to me, your love is the reason my music plays so loud and why I dance such peaceful, beautiful shapes in the light that flows from our combined hearts.
