Walking behind the white screen

Walking behind the white screen. In stage, yet beyond sight. Out of sight of everyone.
The silence of the dust floating in the air, smells different from neglect. It’s secrets and peace and an adrenaline rush kicking from your veins. An unexplicable feeling of nostalgia and a sense of yearning so powerful it knocks the breath out of your chest with a single dry blow. I want to make this walk last forever. Almost forever. Until I walk onto the stage and the lights make silence fall unto the floor like a bubble of smoke.

I get to the other side. The dust bids farewell, until we meet again. Like those eyes at the lake on that summer night that seemed so cold. An embrace. A smile. What is wrong? Nothing.

And the keys rang on the piano. Tasting air and water around you like oxygen. Subtle mint, cinnamon fairies.

People. Eyes. Smiles. Words…. Hugs. The sweat is rolling down my skin. Down the back of my neck from my hair. Down my chest. Rolling beads of sweat as the night air wants to sweetly cut my time.

Let me walk one more time today along those halls that make everything private. And personal. Let every step linger in forever and the whisper of the empty balconies invite me in. Let the side stepping faces stay with me.
Please. I beg. And I cry, and the tears fall unto my skin, embittering the sweat with salty pleadings. Please let me dive into the floor, and break away into dust of light. Let me stay the night. And whisper to the mirrors. Let me hear the echoes of life outside the hidden doors and pounding stairs. Let me cringe in the floor and breathe into the music. Let it be dark, as the light reflects from the mirror unto my face. Not an enemy, but caressing my skin as it moves on the moonlight. Let me fall apart into the white dust and be a smell. A wave of scratching wooden floors and swashing air. Just. Let me be. Here one more night. Let my fingers curl over every crevice in the wood and become the ocean of music that lives here today. Let these faces stay with me forever. As the blood pounds against our fragile skin in ecstasy. Let me stay. Faces. Light. Dust. Let them stay. One more night.

Let the echoing silence shatter time. Take away the martyr from this moment. Let him live. And stay here. With me. Let these stairs hold me back. As I look into the sea of faces. Let the stone lick my shoes into oblivion. Let this place grasp my shirt. And pull me in. Let me stay. Let the doors frame my bones as I push against them.

Let the fingers call every shattered fragment of skin into life. Theirs, mine. Call us into existence. Call the dust back from the air. Gasp and breathe in something other than air.