Dance Conversation in Three Steps

Step One

As we turn and turn, look out, not in,
For if our gaze is in we will collect,
Like gravity, slight sin on petty sin,
While everything else withers with neglect.
But if our gaze is out, our little world
Expands awareness to the outside reaches
Of our universe where, galaxies unfurled,
We’ll learn all that their furthest stars can teach us.
So therefore we should look to other people
For only then can we complete our love,
And, worry not, that always present steeple
That centres us will ever stand above
Just like it did on that our wedding day
When we avowed to love and to obey.

Step Two

No steeple stood above our wedding vows
Since we were married down at city hall;
And though I grant that poetry allows
Some play with truth, we can’t abandon all:
You set the cosmos as our outward gaze
As now we turn and turn on this small floor,
But it's all flat, and after many days,
We’ll circle back and enter at that door.
So I say, no, let’s look within and turn,
And find our true infinity right here;
But, love, I know – I understand you yearn
For galaxies that dance about out there.
So, okay, go and ask her for a dance,
But go without a single backward glance.

Step Three

That last bit carries some uncertainty –
You offer me permission but you don’t?
And by your look, some greater clarity
Won’t be forthcoming, so I think I won’t.
And, yes, of course, you’re right the small is just
As infinite as the extremely large;
And therefore you and I, as one in trust,
Will search the inner spaces in our charge.
So, please, my dear, stop looking at that man –
You seem to think he’s made of chocolate cake;
Don’t blush, I swear, I know if pressed you can
Renounce your cake if I surrender steak.
We’ll turn and turn, and as they play our song,
We'll dance our way through this attractive throng.