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Mythic Passages, the newsletter of the Mythic Imagination Institute, a non-profit arts and education corporation.  Copyright 2005

Crane Dance
Jerry Wennstorm
by Julia Ecklar
Copyright © 1988, and used with the author's permission
Image of Crane Dance © Nanda Currant and used with the artist's permission Listen to a streaming Real Audio version of Julia Ecklar singing Crane Dance

Crane Dancer

"In all things there must be balance,"
So my Teacher says to me.
"Living life's the point of things,
But balance is the key
There is power in the balance
That allows a crane to stand.
My son, you must learn balance
To assist your empty hands.
For balance guides the butterflies
And lets the seasons turn.
The greatness inside any man
Is the balance that he learns."

In my life there's been no balance.
I was taught to lose or cheat.
How am I to balance
With no ground beneath my feet?
How will learning to be hurt and hate
Help me to have a chance?
While a crane may stand by balance,
You will never see one dance —
For balance is a fairy tale
I never will achieve.
The knife may find balance
But the bitter can't believe.

Still I try to catch my balance
Where the sand hills meet the sea.
Do I need another's faith
Or my own faith in me?
With my head above the water
I can sometimes see the land.
Could it be I must "see" balance
Before I can understand
That balance is as balance does,
Between the left and right?
Balance means you understand
The crane when it's in flight.

Almost lost...can I find balance
In the guise of what I fear?
Could it be a test of fire
Must make the balance clear?
This fire only balances
The cold I've known so long.
From this balancing I will emerge
A single human — strong,
For balance tempers light and dark,
And guides these empty hands.
Like the crane whose one leg bears his all,
With balance I can stand.


Visit Julia Ecklar and hear more of her music at the Prometheus Music website

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