Storm Dancing

Tom Smith

The big difference between this and "Starlight and Saxophone", besides everything, is that that one actually was my own idea. This was inspired by some filk I haven't heard in years, I'm pretty sure something by Cynthia McQuillin, and as soon as I hear it again I'll know it and mention it here.

Storm Dancing

Words and Music: ©1988 Tom Smith- All Rights Reserved
Lyrics posted by permission of the author

The winds were hard, the skies were brown,
She'd wanted to get home before the rains came down,
But he'd said, "Stay," and she almost said no;
Now she ran as the high clouds loomed so grand and slow.

The thunder roared, like bells it pealed,
She found no shelter as she ran across the field,
Stumbling and crying at every flash of light,
Losing her courage, losing her way in the dark of night.

But then she stopped to see, atop the hill,
A young man standing, arms outstretched against the chill,
Staring up at the storming sky as if entranced.
Then he danced, oh, he danced.

She could not move, could not breathe in her surprise,
The storm ignored for the love and madness in his eyes,
She sighed at his strength, she gasped at his grace,
Until he stopped and came to stand before her hiding place.

He said, "Why are you alone when everything sings above?
Why do you fear at the afterglow as the clouds make love?
Why do you wait when given a perfect chance?
Come dance, come dance."

She tried to think of the man she'd left, all safe and warm,
But she only saw the dancer shadowed beneath the storm.
She thought his hair was dark, she thought his eyes were clear,
She thought she must be trembling as he drew near.

He touched her face, she closed her eyes,
In his fingertips she felt the pulse of the open skies.
Then he held her hand, and he held her glance,
And they danced, oh, they danced.

And when the morning came, they found her there,
Humming a tune, braiding flowers into her hair,
But no one there could meet the look in her eyes,
So dark and cold, unless she looked up at the skies.

Now when the high clouds loom so grand and slow,
She runs away to the hilltop with her eyes aglow,
She stares up at the sky as if entranced,
And she'll dance, oh, she'll dance.