Looking out it's easier to see
the smudged window that offers thin protection
than from Out There where my chair rests half in shadow.
Sitting still while the world dances
is not the hesitance it imitates to survive,
consuming more energy
than the dancers could possibly know.
The curtains parted years ago,
the music played and faded to swells of questions
that in the empty hall continue to grow.
The stage holds so many windows,
a streaked fractal of a maze meant
to contain any path into the unknown.