The drumbeats commence: the Pavane begins.
I reverence to the shadowed figure: the figure does likewise.
I perceive a half-smile.
-What are the steps?
-I cannot tell you.
I step back, I step around.
The drums continue.
I look for you, stranger.
You have disappeared, split into a myriad reflections.
I direct my steps to your image, and you slip away - Illusion!
I step back, I step around.
The drums continue.
I try to follow the rhythm -
So complex, so complex!
-What do I do?
-Feel, don't think!
-How?
The reply is Silence in all her majesty.
I step back, I step around.
The drums continue.
My steps do not fit the music.
I watch your images, try to understand your steps.
Fragmented, I cannot hope to know the pattern.
So I call to you again.
- Where are you? Come to me!
- I cannot. I must dance the dance.
- Change your steps to mine so I can find you.
- I cannot. I must dance the dance.
- Then teach me your steps.
- You must learn them for yourself. How can I tell them to you?
- How can I learn them?
- I cannot tell you.
I step back, I step around.
The drums continue.
I do not understand.
So I seek you among the mirrors.
I glimpse you, dance toward you.
Have I found you?
...But no, the reflection vanishes as I approach.
- I do not know the dance!
- Feel, don't think!
I pause, I break the rhythm of my steps.
The drums continue.
I wait, I open myself to the music.
The drums enter my soul - I feel the rhythm.
- I hear the music!
- Feel the dance!
I let the music flow through me.
The drums continue.
My feet move of their own accord.
I do not think - I feel the rhythm.
I dance out and around, in and back.
The drums continue.
The shadowed figure approaches in a myriad reflections.
I continue the dance.
Your images draw towards me.
I dance.
- I see you!
You approach, the shadow falls away.
The steps merge, become one.
The Pavane is complete.
(October 1986)