The Dance Master, the Pupil

For all things there is a season
and for her that time has finally
arrived. Perhaps she always knew
it would as she faced all of those
oppositional life challenges, hers to
protest. She was adverse to the
challenges but rose to meet them,
from the forceps delivery that left
her to grope her way through life
sightless, to the birth of three children
whose evolving mental illness brought
fear to her dauntless existence,
sealed by the care she provided to
her mother, dying agonizingly slowly
in frontal lobe dementia. She managed
to turn each challenge to a struggle 
for survival, the effort monumentally
draining, but each turn was managed
with the flourish of a swirl until
she realized she was dancing through
life. Now, she is the elegantly
graceful envy of the ballroom, others
admiring her balance and style,
wondering where it possibly could
have been she gained her marvellous
poise, her perfection of fluid dance.