Notes on Spira Spiritus (Spiral Spirit)

Spiral Spirit (Spira Spiritus)

I

The life principle
Circling continuously
Especially in humans
Around
A point or center
Of animating vapor.

Circling
In curves
That constantly increase
Or decrease
Infused by the breath
As though bestowed
By a deity.

Coiling
In constantly changing
Planes
As the thread of a screw.
Hence,
Helical Soul.

II

To spiral up -
A hawk on a thermal
Becomes a speck of dust
And fades into nothing
But clear blue sky.

To spiral down -
A blighted leaf
On an Autumn day
Floats, spins
And lands softly
on the forest floor.

To lie still -
To let the earth absorb you
Re-make you.

To stand up -
So tall
As to bump your head
On the ceiling
Of your many layered
Longings.

To fall -
Dizzy
Through time
Looking for Alice.

To spiral up again
Through all the shrapnel
Of your own past.

To arrive -
Once again
When all is said and done
At the place
Where you started.

And spiral up -
Again.