[Verse 1] One light in the winter theater Low across the floor Every name went home inside somebody Mine was called no more White shoes holding all the silence Left heel wet with red I kept turning after everyone had gone So I would not vanish yet [Pre-Chorus] Lift Lengthen Find the wall Return Lift Lengthen Lose the breath Still turn [Chorus] Dance her badly Dance her here Dance the one You disappear You don’t have to love her You don’t have to know Just don’t leave her Where the cold lights go Don’t leave her here Again [Verse 2] By the wings, the chosen daughters Pinned their hair and smiled I watched the clean bones of their ankles Like a jealous child I waited for one foot to falter For one bright girl to fall But the stage stayed whole beneath them And I broke against the wall [Pre-Chorus] Lift Lengthen Find the wall Return Lift Lengthen Hear the glass Still turn [Chorus] Dance her badly Dance her here Dance the one You disappear You don’t have to love her You don’t have to know Just don’t leave her Where the cold lights go Don’t leave her here Again [Verse 3] In the mirror stood a younger girl One white lace undone She wore the smile I learned at funerals When the crying had begun She raised one hand toward her shoulder I raised mine to the same The glass stayed cold between us When she asked me why I came No— Why did you leave me? [Post-Chorus] Not me Not not me Not me Not not me [Verse 4] In the last row sat an old woman Paper cup between her hands Once she coughed and looked beside her As if listening for someone there She did not clap She did not save me She did not turn away When I looked again, her seat was empty Old shoes where she had stayed [Bridge] I pulled the white shoe from my left foot The sock tore from the skin Morning had not reached the windows But the grey was coming in A splinter entered through the bare foot Air came crooked through my chest Still it came Still it came Still it came [Breakdown] One step She followed Two steps The same One step She followed Two steps The same Then the third— [Final Bridge] On the third Her foot turned outward Toward the wings Toward no one there I nearly called her back to my body I nearly taught her fear But she lost the rhythm I had given And found one of her own When I turned right She turned left The glass kept standing The light came on [Final Chorus] Dance her badly Let her go Past the steps You think you know You don’t have to hold her You don’t have to name The two of you The same Just don’t leave her Don’t leave her here Again [Outro] One step Two The third Belonged to her One step Two The third Belonged to her And the girl Whose name had entered No one’s mouth that night Turned In her own name
