Oh, To Dance Again!

(after watching the video, "Riverdance", and reading Jeremiah 31:4:
"Again you will go out to dance with the joyful")

guitar strings vibrating with bright
energy, drums pulsing like blood to the beat
as we push our bodies along
into the riverflow of song;
in this enchanting interplay
of heartbeat & motion, we make
a break with time

& take flight again with seeming
effortless, painless joy like before---
no longer like a wounded bird
struggling in the underbrush,
no longer staying on the edge of the dance floor
under the crushing hand of disease,
our muscles like disconnected wires.

Oh, to dance again!

Lord, if my slow-heavy-bear strides
stay so weak and unsteady,
clear some space before Your shining throne
when I leave this earth,
I'm going to need plenty of room
when I reel off one whirling,
leaping-like-a-deer dance after another