Dim light settles
Mahogany wood shines
Marked with scars
Showing old use.

The velvet curtain opens
Soft music plays
They watch with bated breath
What they see is not what they expect.

She draws in air
Deep into her lungs
Listening for her moment
And so she begins.

Soft steps taken hesitantly
Ankles flex and point at the ground
Calves stretch, the leg extends
Knifing an arc through the air.

The torso twists
Bending elegantly
It writhes and moves
To its own melodious pain.

Tendons move
Joints stretch
An extended hand
Sweeps to heaven.

She leaps and twirls
She jumps and dances
Like she's all alone
With moonlight for company.

The notes reach a faster pace
Racing against time
Her leg as taught as a stretched rubber band
Curving in towards the knee
Arms forming a barrier
On one toe she begins to spin.

Behind the grace and elegance
Behind the layer of sweat-soaked skin
Lies withering beauty touched by pain
A rose the shade of violent red
Chained by its own thorns
Enslaved to the pinpricks of red.

What will happen
When the melody reaches its crescendo
When the rose blossoms and thorns extend
When the dance of roses reaches its end?