Reflections of The Shadow Dancer

By Beverly Anderson

In an abandoned dance studio, there's music and dancing unheard and unseen by anyone. The whispers in the shadows laud praises upon the figure that spins around the room. Nothing moves, and yet everything moves around the room. Darkness and light intertwine and dance to cast the shadows of the world. A dance that goes beyond the borders between the worlds is performed within flickering shadows.

The Shadow Dancer knows the truth. Without the darkness, there can be no light. Between them lies the shadow in which the Shadow Dancer twirls.

Enter the world of the Shadow Dancer and find yourself immersed in 150 poems living in the light, the dark, and the shadow.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Warrioress Publishing
• Release date: Apr 2, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224996858

Book preview

Beverly L Anderson

Reflections of the Shadow Dancer

First published by Warrioress Publishing 2024

Copyright © 2024 by Beverly L Anderson

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any other means without permission.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

Beverly L Anderson asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

Beverly L Anderson has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party Internet Websites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such Websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

Designations used by companies to distinguish their products are often claimed as trademarks. All brand names and product names used in this book and on its cover are trade names, service marks, trademarks and registered trademarks of their respective owners. The publishers and the book are not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. None of the companies referenced within the book have endorsed the book.

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Contents

Prologue

Act 1

Touch the Stars

The Breath of Life

Destiny’s Touch

Dying Fire

The Night Wind

The Place of My Desire

Around and Through

The Protector’s Question

On Fantasy

Sing Sweet Lullaby

Your Angel

Reaching Out

Hold!

Truth to Face the Other

Letter to Love

Fire and Ice

Wedding Vow

Wedding Band

The Way Love

Turned Around

The Sun Shown

Eternal Lovers

Eyes of Mine

The Seeking

You Are My…Everything

Break the Bonds

As I Am

On Drowning

The Light

Falling Star

From Natural to Artificial

Poetical Fire

Pages in a Book

Be Burned

Our Love

First Kiss

Learn

I Still Love You

Falling Kiss

In Truth—Beauty

In Twain

Heart’s Fire

In Her Eyes

Home

Creation

Day of Reckoning

Soulfire

One Moment

Act 2

And the Heavens Wept

Liquid Blue Eyes

Silver Bracelets

Honeyed Venom

Past Forevermore

Bitter Words

Friendship’s Sweet Bloom

I Had a Name

Memory of Mine

The Lover

Darkness that Penetrates

Shatter Me

Snake in Sheep’s Wool

Falling Pain

Broken Notes

Blood Roses

Kiss-Bullet-Word

A Few Years Ago

Ache of Living

Died

Flying Free

Forever Bright

No Need

Let Her Fly

On Destruction

Ancient Song of the Exile

A Disease

A Farewell to Innocence

Are You the Judge?

The Bell That Tolls

Endless Nights

Through My Open Window

Lack of Life

The Dragon’s Fire

Secrets of the Dark

Death of the Child

Angel’s Errand

Not Yet

No Turning Back

No Black Robes

No More

Act 3

The Storm Has Come

The Ending is the Beginning

Three Elements

Emotion

Twisting Free

In the Harlequin’s Touch

My Dream of Life

Protector of the Unicorn

Watercolor Dreams

Mr. White and the Seven Children

Eternal Nights

The Hunters

Dark Dance

Deafening Tones

Complete Immersion

Crystal Butterfly

The Straw That Burns

Stricken Candy

The Pen

Oblivion—To Life

The Stopping, Part One

The Stopping, Part Two

Perfect Life…not Really

Painted Roses

The Great Dragon Encounter

Robes and the Rubber Band

Somewhere Between the Night and the Rain

Roses of Red

Images Burning

MoonLit Meeting

Lean

The Note True

Petals of Blue

Reason of the Ending

I Looked Away

Fate’s Door

Trenton Bridge

War Above Sleep

The Watch

Silver and Gold

The Castle Crumbles

Starfire

A New World

Epilogue

About the Author

Also by Beverly L Anderson

Prologue

The Shadow Dancer’s Mirror

The mirror stands floor to ceiling in this tiny studio. No one else looks into the depths of this reflective surface except for one single dancer. For a second, the figure stands and is utterly still in the room. Then, she lifts her hands up above her head and begins to dance. She moves like molten silver in the utter silence and emptiness of this once boisterous and vibrant place. The echoes of this place

Dust has piled high along the opposite wall, filling the cracks and crevices of rows and rows of trophies shelved there. Tiny golden ballerinas and perfect little tap dancers grace the tops of ivory, marble, and quartz columns. Numbers one through ten can be seen on various statues on the solid oak shelves. Names are etched in some, but none can be read anymore. Some are coated with tarnish where the silver parts have aged, and others have rusted where moisture settled on some metal part of the trophy.

The silence would be deafening, if any, but the dancer was in this small space. The air would be stale, and it would be choking on dust and age. But not the dancer. She spins and whirls, but on the shelves, not a speck of dust moves from its resting place.

The large window was boarded up long ago, and outside graffiti graces the old boards, layers and layers over the years. The street itself has become a lonely and terrible place, smelling of human refuse and filth. The buildings around the tiny studio have long been homes to animals and homeless people, most of which are unhealthy either in body or mind. No more than ten miles away, a grand theater puts on a world-renowned ballet tonight. When the wind is right, the somber tones of the music can be heard here.

The glass of the window, choked with dust and cobwebs, somehow has remained unbroken. The small studio has somehow remained unmolested by thieves, vandals, and miscreants. The oak door is no stronger than the neighbor’s door. The glass is not unbreakable, but it stands still despite being the largest glass window on the street. Eventually, it was boarded up not because of being broken like so many of the other windows but because it was not broken.

The rhythm of her dance is unbroken, and she is unbothered by any of these things. Up on toes, down on heels, spinning left, spinning right, leaping skyward, she dances on and on. She is safe here. No one can enter this place while she dances here. No one can harm her here. No, she dances here day and night, and no one sees, no one hears, but she dances on.

Dawn breaks, and through the boards on the great front window, dusty dawn sunshine filters into the once colorfully painted room. The walls were once brilliant pink with murals of dancers in various poses in every color