La Sylphide
At her simplest, she was a
sylph in shocking-white sandals,
bordered on the left by lilies,
dancing round roses
she didn’t dare touch
But time passed and she swapped
sandals for stilettos, white for
the red of those roses,
and found she danced with
a pace more urgent, a purpose
to which white could never pertain.
So it was that
at her most elaborate,
now painted and perfumed,
bearing a weight of decoration
around her neck, she became
unbalanced, lost her footing,
and grasped after something
to steady her, but felt only
the silk-red scarf clutch tight
until no element of air could be drawn
and the sylph again was white.
At her simplest, she was a
sylph in shocking-white sandals,
bordered on the left by lilies,
dancing round roses
she didn’t dare touch
But time passed and she swapped
sandals for stilettos, white for
the red of those roses,
and found she danced with
a pace more urgent, a purpose
to which white could never pertain.
So it was that
at her most elaborate,
now painted and perfumed,
bearing a weight of decoration
around her neck, she became
unbalanced, lost her footing,
and grasped after something
to steady her, but felt only
the silk-red scarf clutch tight
until no element of air could be drawn
and the sylph again was white.
