She Speaks

Trembling in a corner, the room is enveloped in darkness with the spotlight on red. Quivering forward, she steps into the light and clears her throat. She wonders if what she will say will be heard through the black of the space. She thinks she hears crickets giving their salute to the night, but instead she is hearing the rapidity of her trembling. She recites what is innate and gives her all to the audience she cannot see. The spotlight is hers but can those who hear her see her? She begins again. The first recitation was a mere rehearsal of inner thought. She speaks. Not sure what is flowing out of her she begins to feel the weight fall off as if she is released from the tension of the strings that bind her. She turns, focuses her attention to all sides of the room, hoping her frail voice will echo off the walls and back into her where those thoughts and feelings are safe. She second guesses herself when she hears no response, but realizes that she is still showing the room her skill through her performed prose. When she has finished there is silence again. No snaps, no applause, no approval, no rejection, no thrown off stage, just her, the spotlight, and the corner from which she orates. All the while trembling, but now, feeling a stillness inside. When the heart speaks, it expresses to manifest feeling into reality for itself and no one else.