I went to the Turtle Dance last night, and realized, towards the end of it, how I crave touch. Not just the touch of one other, though that is nice, but the intertwined, complex touch of many people moving together.
The Turtle Dance is a weekly ecstatic dance frequented by people who often express the conviction that they are part of an inexorable love revolution – yes, somewhat hippie – and sometimes, when I’m there, I can believe it. Sometimes I go away feeling that no one there knows me or cares whether I’m there, though they seem to care about each other. Other times I feel like I belong. The difference is in whether I have been in a good, multi-person, intertwining dance.
A touch can be a chord, a hum, a tuning
A circuit closed, electric-lighting joy
The answer to my silent, nameless yearning
that carries me through darkness to the day
A touch can form a net of strong connection
A place to hold my fragile, new-formed soul
A current that delivers satisfaction
The DNA for growing strong and whole.
Though I may live without it, my deep hunger
will send me searching for it in its time
I’ll need to twine my tendrils with some others
and wind around to reach the light, and climb.
I’ll drink touch in for what it can provide;
My need for contact will not be denied.
©Wendy Mulhern
March 5, 2011
“I’ll need to twine my tendrils with some others
and wind around to reach the light, and climb.”
Ah, bless you bless you. This is so important to hear, to know it is true for you as well.
~Scot, Flying Turtle Dance facilitator