Jephthah's Daughter Returning

Like Jephthah's daughter returning from the hills

I take each step, the pounding stills

It is over, then, the end is near

There’s no more room for dancing here.

My aged legs ache anyway

My knees are weak, I sometimes sway

And some I love have gone ahead

Where I must shuffle now instead.

The land around me still is green

I leave to others what might have been

The time is short and fleeting now

I move into the final bow.

They said deny it, escape it, flee

But they haven’t seen what I can see

The wildest dance of leap and bend

Leads only where all dances end.

And so I walk my head held high

My father’s word is I shall die.