BALLET

Classic the ballet
beautiful the music
exquisite the ballerina
superb the costuming
outstanding the choreography
deafening the applause
three acts, by the second
I was lost, my imagination amok.

My thoughts turned to the talent at hand
formed from early on by years of hard work,
of discipline, effort, constant training
of failures and successes
striving persistently to reach the top,
to perfect those graceful steps and jumps
discerningly effortless like floating on air
honed to split second timing with great care
a life of dedication with but one aim
to keep on improving, achieving perfection.

Suddenly it dawned on me
we could all profit from that -
the striving, learning, attentiveness
continuous training, devotion to the task
immense strong will to focus on the job
a spirit of wholeness, of immense satisfaction
uplifting the audience
through a faultless presentation
in the performance of great art
I thought perhaps we all could take
a personal lesson by taking this to heart.

Herbert Holzbauer
© February 2002

Midi: "Scene Act 1"
(Swan Lake)
Composer: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Sequencer: Eric Halstead
(frontpage4.netfirms.com)