The Dance

I talked to a friend tonight,

after teaching my class.

It was about a meeting

we both attended that

we both did not understand.

A dance seemed to have gone on

between one side and the other.

There were hidden agendas

which neither of us could fathom.

I thought at the start that

we both were of the same mind.

But as our discussion went on

and the point of the meeting

was pursued, we found ourselves

at odds and a new dance

was begun.

The new dance and the old

became interwoven till

neither of us could determine

the position of the other.

Old steps were gone over

and new steps were tried,

complex pirouettes to a new position

in which one would hope that

we each could find common ground.

In the hopeless entanglement

of our feet and agendas we

had manged to work ourselves

back to the positions from which

we had started.

With breathless relief that the

dance had been saved,

not to mention the agenda,

we politely bowed to

one another and went

on to other business.