Firebird's Flamenco

The curtain was black

The artists’ clothing black

Black was the night outside

In the darkened theater 

For what seemed an eternity
Then came the leviathan

Swimming steadily toward the surface

Through the ages of time and

Within the souls of each gathered there

As she broke through the waters

The sky fell in a red wall of pain

Wailing, the gypsy woman’s voice cried out

Again and again riding upon mighty waves

Outside the leaves in the trees trembled 

No word dared speak

No sound showed itself

So the spell began

A people had danced 

On the edge of sword and flame

Now one of those wanderers

Danced before the hungry eyes

Of all who huddled together 

For the comfort of something lost

There rising up from the ashes 

Then settling down again and again

Alighted the Firebird

Fierce and proud was her beauty

Noble was her every movement

Attacking and feigning

Sailing, swooping, striking

Stretching up to her sisters the stars

Moving to the rhythm of ancient melodies 

The guitars strummed and 

Picked out each note with excellence

The singers voices sang on 

Like a tempest of swirling emotion

Carrying all of our spirits with them  

Along the course of the starry heavens

Together with the moon 

They stirred the many waters

Given power from the sun 

They penetrated every beating heart

Restless the caravan again moved on

Like Bedouins heavy laden with memories

To a land peopled with bazaars and silk

Overflowing with Jasmine and saffron

Tea, rosewater, bright red poppies and poetry

Rising up in the smokers contemplations

Hopes and dreams climbed and fell 

With the waves of heat like a mirage

Hardships and persecution came

With riches, sweetness, children and tradition

But when oppression spilled over

Against her people

Like ink upon the parchment 

The Firebird fierce as she was 

Could shelter their souls 

Like chics within her wings,

For only a few dynamic moments

Great and powerful was her magic, 

Spreading out 

In graceful complexity 

In each step

Every challenge, 

Every regal pirouette

Commanding head cock

Noble bearing and generous gesture

Powerful and loving

But this handsome people

Flowed like a river 

Winding and cutting across the land, 

A majestic life force

As free and indomitable

As the Flamenco’s fire of red and black

A people that could not be counted 

A generation that could not be imagined 

Nor could their spark be contained

So the Firebird in her great wisdom

Summoned that most monstrous of sea creatures

The Behemoth , commanding that he 

Swallow up the vast stream of souls, and

Carry them far away to a place in the sun

Where they might live and prosper once more

The majestic and glorious Firebird 

Having accomplished her mission 

Bridled and harnessed the winds

Flying away with mighty strokes of her powerful wings

Radiant and triumphant

Over the curvature of the earth and sky

Through the suns rays and clouds above 

Until she reached the mountains of red clay

That place of old 

Where she and her children had once dwelled

But had long ago been cast out of 

There the Firebird touched down

The people dressed in black 

Pierced the silence 

Filling the earth once more

With their enchanted music 

The gypsies held each heart hostage 

A prisoner to the rich 

Undulating palpitations

Of their songs and words

Locking in our very being for a time

While the Firebird allowed her self

To unfold her magnificent wings

Dancing, strolling, strutting about 

Stepping, spinning, posturing

Freezing still, statuesque 

Gently moving, slowing time

Transforming herself into 

A beautiful rainbow plumed peacock

In order that she might now 

Express with exuberance 

The Joy and pleasure 

She had in the knowledge 

That her people were safe

The Firebird exalted 

In the pride of sharing 

The mosaic of their story

The artists in black played

Out of the black their voices sang

The curtain was black, and 

Black was the night outside

Inside the darkened theater

For what seemed an eternity
Then, the Lights came up

With them the audience also

At once on their feet

Overflowing in emotions 

Erupting with shouts and hands clapping 

The Midwives together with the Firebird 

Had labored feverishly and a child had been birthed

Arm in arm they danced and sang a little more

Once again the crowd stood up as one celebrating 

Bursting with happiness and wonder  

Swept up in the experience of the moment

While quietly hidden away

Intertwined with their effusive expression

Somewhere within themselves, 

In the inner chambers of being,

They also wept, having taken hold of

The scarlet ribbon of the Firebird’s Flamenco 

Leading back to the past

Remembering the rivers of Babylon 

Running deep

Beneath the myriad blessings and pleasantness

Of this present season. 

Brava, Bravo - Leilah Broukhim and fellow Flamenco artists