Flaccid and feeble she makes her way
a once hopeful past trailing behind her wrinkled face
into a narrow path of light she succumbs unnoticed
a once famous name hiding behind her measured steps .
Then from somewhere out of nowhere
an overachieving call center agent overtakes her way
a shoplifting addict flees around her curb
a philandering wife wanders around her corner
a dope-dealing punk intersects the alley across her
a self-serving politician moves quickly past her
a corrupting policeman prances behind her.
Then just as sudden as the fleeting enigma of Father Time,
a fledgling artist traverses her path
calling out ' Isabel ? '
Suddenly the junction is crammed with moving figures
gradually my face is teemed with wrenching tears
not knowing for certain if it was the homespun ethnic music
or the silhouettes of the dancing figures
or the Poetry in the Motion of Life
or an amalgamation of All.
it mattered not.
oblivious of one another, yet
One moment.
is All At Once.
On a neo-ethnic theatrical ballet piece created by the Philippines' premier ballet & dance artist Agnes Locsin, in an interpretation of National Artist Ben Cabrera's poem entitled 'Dance, Sabel'. Performed at the PETA Theater Center 2010.