Those Who Do Not Dance

An invalid girl asked,

"How do I dance?"

We told her:

let your heart dance.

Then the crippled girl asked,

"How do I sing?"

We told her:

let your heart sing.

A poor dead thistle asked,

"How do I dance?"

We told it,

let your heart fly in the wind.

God asked from on high,

"How do I come down from this blueness?"

We told Him:

come dance with us in the light.

The entire valley is dancing

in a chorus under the sun.

The hearts of those absent

return to ashes.

-- Gabriela Mistral (trans. by Maria Giachetti)

(in Women in Praise of the Sacred,

edited by Jane Hirshfield)