Dancer

Dancer

Las Vegas is a brightly shining city
that never has any time to sleep.
You never really know
who you might be talking to
or who you might happen to meet.
There is a little place called Palladium Station.
out in the suburbs of that big old town.
If you go down there on a Wednesday night
you'll find Jessie tending bar.
I used to drop in to see her
have a drink and chat from time to time.

One night when it was kind of slow
Jessie said to me,
“'Years past I was a dancer
in a brightly lit chorus line. 
I learned from one of the best there was.
She had high hopes for me.
We had a lot of mutual respect.
I used to really sparkle up there on the stage.
I used to really shine.
I had a hope or two of going even farther.
'Had a hope or two of having even more
of that diamond time.
But, you know, life is what happens
while you're busy making plans.
I got a husband and two children.
and had to leave that chorus line behind.
Now I only dance to teach a few kids
over at the dancing school.”
Jessie stopped to draw a guy a miller.
When she came back she smiled and quietly said,
“There's times in the dark of night as I fall to sleep
I wonder what might have been
if my life had turned out differently
and a little more like I'd planned.”

I said, “I am a writer.
I make my art with a pen.
Jessie, you're an artist too
and you make art with your body
like an antelope running across the savanna
or a tree moving gently in the wind.
They say that art is its own point for happening
and improves upon the beauty of the world
like the stars in the sky at night
or a sunrise in the morning
painting the day ahead.
They say life has a strange way of happening.
It takes you down roads you never expected
and paths that sometimes turn out better
than you ever could have planned. 

If your art becomes famous
you get to shine brightly for a few years
until your limelight begins to fade
then you spend your time reminiscing
about the glory days behind you.
instead of paying attention to
the time you've got left.
Show off your art
and you brighten the world for day or two.
But if you teach your art
to the young ones who come after you
you can see your sun rising
a thousand times over
in the long years ahead.”

Dewey Dirks