Romance, Ballet, and Cats - First Love Poem for Valentine's Day
Romantic Notion: Who Else Wanted to be a Ballet Dancer?
Capturing Romantic Moments
A poem to recapture an old love can be difficult unless written in the moment or soon thereafter. Writing about the thoughts and feelings of those moments can be a great release—and comforting down the road when the relationship is no longer there. The following is a poem I wrote years ago that described a new and sweet relationship. Although the romance didn’t last long, I remember it without regret and with much fondness. I think he might remember it that way, too.
Romantic Ballet Music: Swan Lake
Have You Ever Seen the Ballet?
And in that first night
he knew that she wrote poetry
messed around on the piano
and gave up unrealized dreams of dancing.
He learned the names of her cats
and told her the colors that best suited her.
She brought him coffee
and he gave her goose bumps.
He never touched her,
at least not on purpose.
Only his arm innocently brushed hers
as she tentatively sat beside him.
All of that one evening
she couldn’t remember,
for she found herself in a fog,
lost in his voice and his laughter.
How was it that every strand of her
was tied to him—
every nerve on edge—
already taken—
short of breath,
her stomach in fluttery knots,
rejecting the food
that her lips barely tasted.
Intimidation, fear, enveloped her
as she wondered if he felt it, too.
Her eyes soft upon him,
she quelled the icy clutches
that turned her inside out
as she feared he would forget her first.
She let her breath out slowly—
evenly, relieved—
that’s how it would be,
that’s how it must be,
because though her heart might die,
his she couldn’t bear to hurt.
A Beautiful Piano Version of Swan Lake
© 2011 Victoria Lynn