This is part two of our series called “Worth a Thousand Words,” where writers use a work of art as the muse for their story. This piece by Elissa Gray takes influence from “La Valse” by Camille Claudel.
I curve my lips and ask the question, the only syllables that align with meaning in these broken times. Voulez-vous danser avec moi?
First step, maybe two. You take and I give, until we switch and reverse – it’s symbiosis, it’s beautiful. There is mutuality and there is dominance, but in every step, I am yours and you are mine. It’s intangible and uncanny, yet still ripe and real, as if the world is dancing on my tongue. I do not feel lost or tarnished or forgotten; I am empowered, strong – molded in plaster, sealed by bronze. When I paint the world one color and only think in movements, everything is simple, and love is all I can feel and breathe and remember.
Tu m'aimes? Parce que je t’aime. Pour toujours.
If there is only one dance, then I will live forever in your arms. And when the last note fades away and the only sound is your breath in my ear, I will disappear too, like the end of the track, like the final step in an endless waltz. Merci, mon amour. Jusqu'à la prochaine fois.