Late nights are a thing of the past
I sleep in the wee small hours
My partying days are over
I've no more staying powers
I used to trip the light fantastic
Imbibe copious amounts of wine
I would dance until three am
And the next day feel just fine
Alas, now days my eyelids are heavy
Remarkably soon after I've been fed
And a sideways glance at the clock
Says it too early to retire to bed
So I must sit slumped in a chair
Waiting til a respectable time to repose
And I'm pretending to read a book
But in truth... my eyes are closed
........ snore...
Getting along together
Dancing that same old dance
But you’ve forgotten the steps
So now what
Is this my new lot
You have changed
And I changed to be content
with you
Working the dynamic
Keeping up the merriment
Breaking in the fantasy
Fostering a brand spanking new way to play
Becoming rather tame
In this complicated adjustment
Game
And finally I was coming
Into my own
Catching the big wave
But you changed
Now what
Me
I learn the new steps
I swirl and I sway
I dance a new dance
And I trip the light fantastic
That’s what.
By pskips
A hole that can’t be filled
an ocean that can’t be crossed
a phrase that can’t be spun
inhaling your exhaust
The measure off the scale
the truant thrice reclassed
the memory twice forgotten
the die that’s never cast
A spider web unwoven
a future distant past
a God beyond religion
a sail without its mast
“To Trip The Light Fantastic”
to burn the bridge uncrossed
to fasten moments end to end
—to find what time has lost
(The New Room: February, 2022)
I'd travel the world
Trip the light fantastic
Spend quality time with my family
My schedule, so elastic
Brush up on my reading
Start a garden, plant seedlings
Exercise daily, religiously
Attend prayer services regularly
Well, retirement's come and I must say
Things haven't exactly broken my way
My body's rebelled, and I've had to scrap
~ Everything save my afternoon nap
Can you remember?
Holding onto the dreams of the past
I can still see your face, your smile
I can hear the laughter and the joy
I can feel your touch, tearful emotions
when crying wasn't always a sadness.
There were those wonderful moments
when it was just me and you
and nothing but time between us.
I can remember
Holding tight to those memories
We can trip the light fantastic
we can dance to old songs and melodies
we can reminisce on how wonderful life was
let's be together then, forever dancing through time.
Two Dancers in black and white
when the only difference is the sequel of life
which follows in melodic repertoire of humanity.
Photo from Helen Levitt
Through the photographs in Helen Levitt’s book A Way of Seeing (now in its third printing by Duke University Press) have long been regarded as classics of 20th century photography, a significant aspect of Levitt’s work from this period is relatively little known. It is also not commonly known that Levitt has continued to produce important work throughout the 1970’s and 1980’s.
Would you dance
if the music played long and loud enough?
Take my hand and spin round the floor
looking back at life experiences excited and bored,
short, happy, sad and all too brief,
time steals away moments like a thief
but you and I, we could dance
sway and swirl, waltz in the dreams of the world
for hope and peace, common sense emptied of all grief;
would you dance
take away the postulating circumstance
of who, how and why we are
content in these moments beneath the stars;
smile, laugh, weep tears of joy
trip the light fantastic with Helen of Troy
or your favored prince charming toy;
You could dance
dream the dreams of youth long lost
pay the price of living life's easy choice
or steel your spirit, heart and soul
to forage through the life you know
with me and our love that grows
as time and these melodies begin to slow.
In the end, when all efforts seem to intermix
woud you dance in the last hours that tick
on the clock and final two step dance oblique
when life and love are individually unique;
take me body, hold it tight to his or hers
and lightly trace the memories explored
while in the dance. I am forever yours.
I can sing a song happy days
I can dance in different ways,
I can write a thousand words
I can shout, so as to be heard,
I can trip the light fantastic
And write a poem that's ekphrasis,
I can write a prose or rhyme or two
And spread a message that is true,
And every aspect that I see in you
Gives me satisfaction in all you do,
I find harmony in the sweetest bliss
And savour every single kiss,
I am a minstrel and a storyteller
I am a poetic writer message seller,
Pass on to those brave enough to hear
About a future loud and clear.
Music leaps from open windows,
gliding down steamy summer rays.
The notes have loud mouths, shouting
out bold, rude barbs of reality.
Hip-hop, rap, heavy metal, all crash...
clanging onto the pavement below, then
flip-flop like a wounded bird.
Dancers trip the light fantastic,
cyclonic feet never stumbling,
shuffling along chalk-marred sidewalks.
Words jumbled in banging heads-
buds in scathed ears, burning hissed tunes
bouncing off graffiti bombed walls.
Pungent fog from strange smoke
crawls out of long black cars with
rears jacked up, rolling down scarred streets,
bouncing up and down with a bad rhythm
from a sad. raucous concert, jerking like
a drunk chicken strutting and kissing the ground.
Pig-tailed girls jump rope, chanting the
"lady with the alligator purse," paying no
attention to strangers staggering by with
lecherous eyes and brown bags holding secrets.
Young boys play stick hockey on cracked walks,
teething on puberty and swearing like crude sailors.
The old woman watches from a top step,
hoping someday the broken bottles will cut
through the chains and lead to a better life.
care to dance mr snowden
i see your lookin so low
enemies at the gate
lookin to deliver death blow
id love to mr putin
your ever so kind
come tango with me
and ill blow your mind
take my hand then mr snowden
we shall dance into the dark
come come now we must hurry
before those snipers find ther mark
oh vladimir your my saviour
you saved me from all those rough hands
its obama you see
i dont think he understands
oh edward dont you worry
ill mind your white white face
we shall trip the light fantastic
then retire back to my place
========================================================
Crepuscle beamed, descried at the telluric cyan orb
Dusk devoured auric daystar as lambency was absorbed
Sun's verve, twinkle immersed by the lil' murk
Permeate the newfangled burst of wavering lights in the skylark
Stupefied by the wondrous jaw-dropping milieu
Quadrilateral lunar satellite came into being ... it's true
Moonlight in turquoise, then cerulean radiance come forth
Sometimes vermilion, xanthous, amethyst in hue, real ravishing in worth
Nightfall turned into a deluxe, grandiose discotheque
Music of pyrotechnics, symphonized in grotesque
Four-sided night star trip the light fantastic
Made every cyclicity, rhythm, syncopation exotic
What a comely, ecstatic, striking, mind-glued augury
A tour in the out of this world planet, where there's no existing adversary
I am the sculptor, architect and painter of my own exquisite sunset
Twilight's ikon in my mind still in set
Written in words, penned with the mind's eye
Done through the " LIMITLESS " dye.
========================================================
Billowing tufts of blue and green
create my peaceful place.
I think my heart has seldom seen
such happiness and grace.
The sky's lit with an amber hue
that guides me on my way.
I trip the light fantastic through
this joyful sunny day.
I'll take a walk into the park.
Or maybe I'll take flight
in a hot air balloon till dark
has glazed the day to night.
Perhaps I'll get a bite to eat
and look up some old friends.
It could be my bed will I greet
as this pleasant day ends.
written July 22,2011
for contest....Happiness is a Balloon
by Deb Wilson
I saw you yesterday you know
You had your arm around her
It seems you set her eyes aglow
I guess you're glad you found her
While I am feeling every blow
You trip the light fantastic
Life isn't fair-that much I know
But this is pretty drastic
My anger surfaces again
I turn it inside me
It quickly becomes frozen pain
Why won't you let me be?
I had to get out of that place
Before I lost my mind
The agony was on my face
You're really so unkind
I won't see you again I hope
Go live your life you fool
I'll have to find a way to cope
So you're in love-that's cool!
I traveled a few miles going here and there;
Thinking I might find someone special.
I found someone special but she wasn’t for me;
All the while in the back my mind I had a friend;
She is always supportive, kind, caring; and never too busy.
Never does she take sides;
She loves me, cares about my well being and I find hope in her.
I like my cake and ice cream too but I can go with out it for awhile;
So for now I’ll take friends and be happy.
I missed out on seeing a beautiful place;
And I think I missed a great opportunity to know another outstanding woman.
My name is mud again; but hey I think I’ll go back.
I won’t look for anybody but maybe I’ll trip the light fantastic.
Take a couple ferry rides and search for that piece of serenity I felt up there.
At least now I’ve come to learn that friends that love you can be sometimes as;
Fulfilling as intimacy can be if not better.