#NaPoWriMo Day 1: The Little Dancer.

Dear little dancer
Made of fragile wax,
Where Icarus, too, fell
But you’ve held on fast;
Long gone is your maker,
But you were sculpted to last.

Rose from the fire
Cast in celestial bronze—
Yet you remain gentle
As you have ever been,
With your swan-like grace,
And a spirit forever young;
The heart of a warrior,
For who else could battle Time
And live to tell the tale?
Only the bold and the brave.

Who could ever think
The silk and satin wings
Could soar up so high,
Carve a place in history,
In stories that will be told
For ages to come,
Until the end of all time.
Dear little dancer
Made of divine bronze,
You’ve outlived your maker
Who could have ever thought?
Your youthful spirit shines,
An old soul with the spirit of a child,
Curious little battles
Inside a curious little mind.

What wax could forge
A warrior of bronze?
What satin, silk and tulle
Could fight battles so strong?
What wood could carve
An armour that dodge
The harshest of all blades?
You were sculpted to win over
Even the hardest of hearts,
A treasure admired by all to this day.

~© Shubhangi Srinivasan.

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Today’s prompt via napowrimo.net is to examine an artwork from the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MoMA)’s website and write a poem inspired by that artwork. The artwork that caught my attention is ‘The Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer‘ sculpted by Edgar Degas. The sculpture was initially made of wax, and left behind in his studio after Degas’s death. The sculpture displayed at MoMA is cast in bronze, as wax sculptures are perishable and can deteriorate over time. It is weirdly inspirational that a sculpture that was originally perishable turned into something that could possibly last till the end of all time. That’s what inspired me to write this poem. It is for every single person out there who is going through a trial of some sort and hanging in there despite all odds. I hope you like reading it.
Yours truly,
The Shubhster. Xx

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Featured Image: Artwork by Shubhangi Srinivasan.