<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="text-indent: 0pt; widows: 1; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class=""><font class="">The Night She Danced</font><br class=""><br class=""><font class="">A smoky basement in Seville,<br class="">cigar plumes hanging low,<br class="">a single bulb </font></div><div style="text-indent: 0pt; widows: 1; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="">with a bent green shade </div><div style="text-indent: 0pt; widows: 1; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="">lights it all.<br class=""><br class=""></div><div style="text-indent: 0pt; widows: 1; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="">Underneath the singer’s bleeding voice</div><div style="text-indent: 0pt; widows: 1; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="">an ancient rhythm throbbed </div><div style="text-indent: 0pt; widows: 1; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="">from an old guitar and there</div><div style="text-indent: 0pt; widows: 1; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="">on the bottom step, </div><div style="text-indent: 0pt; widows: 1; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="">something leaned </div><div style="text-indent: 0pt; widows: 1; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="">against the wall.</div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0pt; widows: 1; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> </p><div style="text-indent: 0pt; widows: 1; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="">It was then Delilia stood up </div><div style="text-indent: 0pt; widows: 1; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="">on the pitted mahogany floor,</div><div style="text-indent: 0pt; widows: 1; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="">and danced the whole history of Andalusia</div><div style="text-indent: 0pt; widows: 1; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="">out of the night and into the room.</div><div style="text-indent: 0pt; widows: 1; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class=""><br class="">All those times of exquisite pain </div><div style="text-indent: 0pt; widows: 1; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="">and painful joy.<br class="">Like the night the grandmother died<br class="">and the grandchild was born in Favencia.<br class="">And that year that the Guadalimar </div><div style="text-indent: 0pt; widows: 1; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="">leaped from it’s banks and carried away<br class="">the lemon orchard and the mule.<br class="">And the time the bull with the broken horn</div><div style="text-indent: 0pt; widows: 1; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="">crashed through Alejandro’s bodega </div><div style="text-indent: 0pt; widows: 1; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="">just before siesta. <br class="">And the time the wine turned to vinegar.</div><div style="text-indent: 0pt; widows: 1; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="">And the Christmas mass when the priest died. </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0pt; widows: 1; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> </p><div style="text-indent: 0pt; widows: 1; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="">It was all there. </div><div style="text-indent: 0pt; widows: 1; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="">The winter shawl made by Maria Helena </div><div style="text-indent: 0pt; widows: 1; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="">for the statue of Our Lady. <br class="">And the perfect olives grown by Tio Miguel</div><div style="text-indent: 0pt; widows: 1; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="">on his dry and scorched huerto.<br class="">The music caught it all in a flaming cauldron</div><div style="text-indent: 0pt; widows: 1; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="">of blazing heels and chattering castanets. </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0pt; widows: 1; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> </p><div style="text-indent: 0pt; widows: 1; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="">Delilia, consumed by Duende, was danced </div><div style="text-indent: 0pt; widows: 1; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="">by the joy the sorrow, the pleasure the pain, </div><div style="text-indent: 0pt; widows: 1; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="">the sugar the lemon, the life and the death, </div><div style="text-indent: 0pt; widows: 1; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="">the laugh and the scream. The pain and the fire.</div><div style="text-indent: 0pt; widows: 1; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="">Nothing escaped that pulsing dance. </div><div style="text-indent: 0pt; widows: 1; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="">We could all die! Santo Padre! Death is near!</div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0pt; widows: 1; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> </p><div style="text-indent: 0pt; widows: 1; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="">Then a sudden dark silence </div><div style="text-indent: 0pt; widows: 1; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="">caught it all by the throat. </div><div style="text-indent: 0pt; widows: 1; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="">Madre de dios! What had she done?</div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0pt; widows: 1; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> </p><div style="text-indent: 0pt; widows: 1; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="">Delilia’s last step </div><div style="text-indent: 0pt; widows: 1; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="">had smashed it all</div><div style="text-indent: 0pt; widows: 1; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="">without remorse.</div><div style="text-indent: 0pt; widows: 1; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class=""><br class="">Death was there that night <br class="">slinking nearer the singer’s heart <br class="">but Death left the basement<br class="">with empty arms. </div><div style="text-indent: 0pt; widows: 1; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class=""><span style="word-spacing: normal;" class="">No match for the Duende in the room</span><br class=""><span style="word-spacing: normal;" class="">the night </span>Della<span style="word-spacing: normal;" class=""> danced flamenco.</span></div><div style="text-indent: 0pt; widows: 1; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="text-indent: 0pt; widows: 1; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class=""><font class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>- Doug von Koss</font></div></body></html>