To T.O. Henderson

Generous with your gift, you burn

All of your strength for your art

And others, grateful

Receive the warmth you share

With open hearts

Even the least inclined

To admire such things are taken

By the powerful grace of your moves,

Their natural flow so seemingly

Easy

Like an ancestral language

Learned before birth, inherited

With your genes

Your dance speaks the struggle

And joy of living,

Worships elusive forces

That shape all life

Powers we all know, adore and fear,

Yet no one can name

Or understand.

Your dance tells your audience

So much about yourself

That I wonder if you willingly

Open your heart, or if

Your gentleness, your passion

Your feelings show through

So blissfully

Without your knowledge….

Either way, it’s sheer happiness

Renewed

Every time I see you dance.

                                                        -  Lucia Amelia Pirisi, Fall 2000