At 3, you win a talent contest.
The child God made of
God’s longing to dance.
Then vaudeville,
the Will Mastin Trio.
At 7, a movie. A
small boy becoming
a small man flash-tapping
his way out of Harlem.
Shuffle ball change
triple Cincinnati
double time
drawback
stamp.
At 29, you lose an eye,
nearly your life, and
ever after that curious glass
orb fixed and impassive but still
every mortal cell
moving
moving
moving
across the miles,
through the years.
You do not stop dancing
you cannot stop dancing
having let God make of you
some emphatic art still
sending back to us
that staccato summons,
the call to practice to
ceaselessly practice to
become what God had in mind.
Your impeccable feet finding
heaven’s floor, tapping like
Morse code the imperative
to make of our human lives
some small but exquisite
beauty
-.. .- -. -.-. .
Reminding us:
Here it is,
right here,
right now.
Here: Your life.
So, dance. Oh, dance.
The video clip is taken from the American Masters production Sammy Davis, Jr.: I’ve Gotta be Me, a profile of the multi-talented artist now airing on PBS.
Meditatio Ephemera 
Your post reminds me of the song Lord of the Dance ‘dance, dance, wherever you may, I am the Lord of the dance, said he ….
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Lovely! Thanks for sharing that.
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