by Meggie Hardy

Created on: December 05, 2008   Last Updated: December 18, 2008

I see her through a dense fog,
swaggering her hips
out toward the dance floor.
At the crook of one finger
they all follow her
and she leads them,
dancing wildly in circles.

I smile at her demeanor,
the confidant flip of the hair,
cut long and shaggy,
golden highlights that cost a fair
amount of paycheck, I'm sure.
But when you're that young and beautiful,
Who cares?

The laugh is familiar,
flirty and provocative.
I've heard it a thousand times before
tugging at the corners of a memory.
Too quickly, it becomes an echo,
and retreats down an unfamiliar tunnel
where I can't hear it anymore.

In a blink of the eye she disappears,
right there, in front of us all,
yet no-one notices she is gone.
The space where she was
fills in with reveler's gyrations,
moving to their own beat now,
dancing to an unfamiliar song.

I keep searching through the fog,
pushing lethargic synapses
to fire and find her again.
In a haze of uncertainty, she reappears,
tilting her head and smiling coyly,
dancing to a secret beat
that only she can feel.

She crooks her finger again
but this time at me,
daring me to follow her lead.
I wonder why and then
the fog clears and I can finally see.
My God! This girl who's taunting me
is the girl I used to be!

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