look at me, study the way I move, the shapes

I can create as my feet crack and bleed, tiny

gems spinning across the floor the same way

we do, slipping through small spaces, but

look at me, look at the pain I’ve been through

to get here, look at my smile, it’s fake but I’ve

trained it to look real, I’m happy but I’m so damn

tired, watch me dizzy myself but never take a 

break, every beat of the music aligns with my heart

which only beats for you, so keep on staring, your 

eyes are the only reason I perform, I’m like a storm

when I dance, it’s pretty and dangerous and can’t be

stopped, don’t stop me, I’m stronger than I look, and

even when I fall, I falter, I look like the dancer I was

born to be, so don’t break your gaze, tell them she’s

good, she’s prettier when she dances, tell them she

deserves the lights, the ones that blind her every

time she goes on that stage, standing taller with

every person that looks at her, she’s shallow but

she’s in too deep now, she’ll never sleep now, she’s

too restless, always on her feet, going blind in one eye

but she loves it, breaking free of the shadows and into

the light, exhausted, she’s never felt more at home.