Country Dancing

by Brian Wake

There is nothing to be frightened of, she said,

but come along and lie here on the bed.

She spoke of country dancing and of how so very sad

it was for one to dance alone; to move in time with no-one’s steps

and music but their own.

There is nothing to be frightened of, she said,

but come, my dear, and lie down on the bed.

For country dancing was the only time I ever moved.

A solitary shuffler, shadow-partnered, I improved.

I danced the days away from wall to wall

and, although I often stumbled, she had taught me how to fall.

There is nothing to be frightened of, she said,

but come along and lie down on the bed.

   And when the dancing ended I could always hear

her voice that told me there was nothing there at all to fear.

There is absolutely nothing to be frightened of my dear.