Part 1: Of Origins, and Something Eternal

Have you ever danced
in the first ever chaos
of fire and storm?
Danced so hard
the earth and ground beneath you
swelled and grew
until it cracked open
and rock of gold and white filled up the sky?

Have you ever danced with such grace and pain
the world stood still
and watched
as life was born in and with each of your movements – head tilted
arms extended
feet stamping the soil
until you cried and
crops grew from the ground?

It is not the dance of life
not a dance of the sky
nor even the dance of the gods
It is eternal and it only cries out for one thing

Things imagined are real. That really is all there is to the world.

Part 2: Sit Under Your Own Tree

Did you hear
the whisper
of the wind
its mighty roar
in the still night air

Have you ever felt
the sky close down
and swallow
not itself
nor the world
but a deadly silence

Come now
the world is silent
and you
or your mind
makes the only noise
it and hear your own scream
silent, it is only you that cries

And does the flower
know its own beauty
the tree its strength?

Middle break: Life Belonged to the Runaways

The drum drums
blood awakens

And burns a fire
Never to put it out

Part 3: End – Have you ever danced?

To dance
freedom
pain
a knowledge, wisdom
of life and death
except who
would wish upon themselves
such a burden

Have you ever danced like you carried the
souls of a thousand folk in your bones,
each rattling your cage
yelling
screaming
finding expression as you move
your body?
Sending waves of power
and pain
into the world
and carrying all the feeling that can be carried?

Have you ever danced like you heard
a million drums
all playing at once
a thousand songs ringing in your ears?
Have you ever danced like you felt
every sound through your bones
a breath of creation
each jerk of the head
a giving of life
repeatedly
and repeatedly
in a frenzy
until there was no more sound
no drums
no songs
and all that remained
for the slightest instant
an unchanging peace
a freedom without centre
and a crashing pain
of ground
of wilderness and a chaos innate

The drums are playing
the earth is shaking
the songs have begun
my body rages 

It is imminent
– we will dance
and split the earth
mines and houses
shall rise
and what washes away
in that dance
rinsing the pain
we dance
with glory
and grace
with the promise
and hope
of eternal
–