The Dance

When the very first note
Set the rhythm afloat,
I requested your hand in the dance.
You hung onto my arm,
Interlocked, palm to palm,
In the Ballroom of Lifelong Romance.

In the quickstep and jive,
We were young and alive,
And I laughed as I swung you around.
Quick and light on our feet,
We were lost to the beat,
And consumed by the deafening sound.

There were times, it is true,
When I bumped into you,
And I’ve still not erased all my faults.
Sometimes I don’t lead,
As the teacher decreed,
When we’re lost in an elegant waltz.

But still the band plays
Through the nights and the days,
And you look pretty good in that gown.
And the music keeps going,
Now faster, now slowing,
And still we don’t want to sit down.

So come take my hand
And we’ll dance to the band,
As serenely as when we began.
And we’ll just keep on whirling
And twirling and swirling
As long as the two of us can.