Dancing the void*

When the centre cannot hold

and an ancient being—half beast, half human—

slouches towards the cities…

I walk to the edge of the precipice

where many a time I have ventured

and Gods of the centre

threatened me with excommunication.

Each time

quaking with ancient memories of ostracism

I returned to temples spiring on quaking Earth

like a shamed circus beast.

But this time I jumped—

f

a

l

l

i

n

g

:

void

is dung and blood scented!

Falling:

is the rocking cradle

where ceremonial innocence is

wonder of an infant whose dance

must express as explosions

of delighted exploration.

Falling:

is gurgling chant of primordial glee

birthed from alchemy of dancing body

and her landscape of mountains and trees

and moistness from secret springs.

Falling

is collision of beast and baby

when centre is exhumed

and Dance, once asphyxiated,

now unfurls in marrow.

Falling:

my dance

mirrors interstices

centreless in Divine infinitude—

intimate, and intimated

animal, and animated.

-Padma Menon

*This poem is inspired by W. B. Yeats’s “The Second Coming”. Pls read that poem first as many references will make meaning when you know the original.

Image: NASA, ESA, SAO, CXC, JPL-Caltech, and STScI, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons