They waltzed in cold embrace,

their forms slowly turning to ash
as they mechanically twirled around
the unseeing room, greyish-black
puffs
falling from them
like pieces of a dying glacier
collapsing  into the sea.
Their silence held unspoken
volumes,
the ashen visages of the dancers
remnants
of warmer times,
when what was hoped
still outweighed
what was known.
Their bodies slowly
broke apart
with each unheard shift
in rhythm,
the scorch marks
on the walls
the only evidence
now in view
of vanished times
and ancient lives.