Elegance
Wendy Dunleavy
Elegance – For Charlotte
Kellie Arnold
The twirl of your skirt,
round and round,
Rainbow-fabric splayed open
is like thin sliced
fruit on the rim of
our drinks
during tea party afternoons.
There will be another time,
a different age
where your self-fascination,
chapstick-smeared practice grins,
the incessant dancing,
are labelled vanity.
But for now,
catch your breath,
untangle the sun-kissed curls
from your eyelashes
and rise up on tip toes
as the next performance begins.
Let your kettle drum heart
beat in rhythm with each spin.
