The Nature of Dance by Mary Harwell Sayler

I.
A mere breeze stirs the leaves
of an oak, and palm trees sway.

II.
Around the world, children, 
who have not yet learned 
to mourn, skip along, 
levitating in the freedom
of themselves as music plays 
that only their ears can hear.

III.
Each day the earth whirls 
like a swirling dervish, 
and monks chant, and nuns
pray in the pulse of their 
rosaries, and the harmonious
heart retains its rhythm.