Teach Me How To Dance

I met him one day,

I looked at him,

He looked at me.

And I knew right then,

that he was the one.  

***

She walked in,

her gait like a swan.

She met my gaze,

I took her slightly warm hand.

***

He took my hand, 

and lead me to the posters.

The dance took up the wall,

And I asked him if he would teach me how to dance.

***

She asked me to teach her, 

I didn't know myself,

I said that I would teach her,

Thinking that I would have to learn.

 ***

He said that he would teach me,

I almost danced from joy.

I wanted to come away from the pond,

from the death and decay beneath it's surface.

and I could feel animals rotting muscle

beneath my ungainly feet.

***

Dancing with my mother,

though embarrassing 

was the only way I could learn.

I wanted to sweep her across the dance floor,

And put the sparkle back in her eyes,

instead of the bones and blood I saw there.

***

I waited for him on my porch,

The night had finally arrived.

I was going to learn to be the swan,

Taking flight across the floor,

instead of the pond,

where sorrows dwell.

***

I took her hand,

and lead her away.

wilderness dance it said,

by the pond it said.

But when my little swan arrived there with me,

her eyes took on a haunted expression,

and she begged me to leave.

***

I begged him to leave,

he didn't know what waited for him.

For it was my destiny never to know love.

And the creature in the pond,

would take him away.

But he would pay no heed.

He wanted to teach me to dance.

***

I wanted to teach her to dance,

So I took her to the boardwalk,

and swept her across the floor.

But the minute our hands met,

The water parted,

to reveal the most beautiful creature 

I had ever seen besides my beloved.

I walked toward it, entranced by the way it's mane moved,

by the way it pawed the ground.

***

He walked toward it, 

I begged for help,

But no one saw the harm,

In walking toward a perfectly white horse.

But they didn't know,

It wanted me for it's own.

It wanted it's own pretty flower.

It wanted him gone.

***

She pulled my sleeve,

But I couldn't hear her.

The horse drawing me in.

I stroked it's light blue mane,

and then without warning,

It bit my shoulder,

Tearing a giant chunk of flesh.

I tried to pull away,

but my hand stuck to it's mane.

***

His hand was stuck to it's mane,

I yelled at the kelpie

"Take me instead!" I said.

So it let him go,

and took me back.

He turned me into what he wanted me.

Another of his kind.

But the sparkle he had created,

was gone from my eyes.

*** 

She was gone,

It took her instead.

I went in after her,

But the villagers stopped me,

saying it would take both of us.

They overwhelmed me,

my torn shoulder was taken care of,

but my torn soul could never be mended.