the ballerina

A melody pirouettes in the darkness of my brain; 
a haze of color, ignites me, fight me, until I am tamed.
Toes pointed.
Body fluent in untold grace. 
Stomach tucked in. 
Legs long. 
Breath, a song. 
"Here the cheers," they say behind the curtains, 
a drapery of velvet tears, 
an elegy of youthful years. 
"Here the chears," they say. 
Who can hear cheers
If all they hear is their heart
in their chest, 
crying in its emptiness?
"They will fuel you."
A swirl of air billows around my hollow shell,
but what do they see?
A mannequin of bottled tears, 
scars of shame, 
a wiry brain warped in every misdirection?
No. 
They see fire beyond compare, 
A heart to control,
A skinny girl blind to their ambitions. 
But no, 
They won't get what they see. 
They get me, 
An emberish ballerina
ready to be free. 

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