The first note strikes to

the tune of deception,

The second note sung by deceit,

The musicians play on, a harmony of lies

As we rise to dance in the fraud,

Our steps—quick and light as evasion—

Echo with hollowness when set to the floor,

Waltzes of guile, forgery, falsehood,

Sweeping the room with polished distortion

When under the weight of our own self-destruction,

As the delicate melody draws to an end,

the dance floor beneath us crumbles and shatters.

Piercing egos in the stillness

 

This work received a Gold Award in The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards of 2002.