It's a twister! and that's a beautiful thing.

There two, now three, now thirty dry leaves
persuaded (or pursued) from the winter ground
by the rushing rumor of Spring.

Up and round like a dizzied child
a force of nature, a dervish wild.

I waited, a benchwarmer, with book in hand
in relative calm till the turning leaves turned on me.
The hush grew rushed and the whisper howled
when the bated breath broke loose.

That wind shook the soot from the winter ember
broke through to the weak and eager heat,
and sparks were joined to the spiraling spiration.
My heart was relieved by the light-warmth.

---

That's a shot at a poem I'm trying to write about a little moment from today. I was at the park re-reading the end of a great book I've been in called "Gilead" by Marilynn Robinson. I read this paragraph:

"It has seemed to me sometimes as though the Lord breathes on this poor gray ember of Creation and it turns into radiance - for a moment or a year or the span of a life. And then it sinks back into itself again, and to look at it no one would know it has anything to do with fire, or light. That is what I said in the Pentecost sermon. I have reflected on that sermon, and there is some truth in it. But the Lord is more constant and far more extravagant than it seems to imply. Wherever you turn your eyes the world can shine like transfiguration. You don't have to bring a thing to it except a little willingness to see. Only, who could have the courage to see it?"

While I was thinking about it I noticed some leaves spinning up into the air. A cyclone formed about twenty yards away and I watched it, able to see the shape of the wind outlined by the debris. It was quiet where I sat, but the cyclone moved toward me and passed "through me" for a few seconds.

It was striking. The twining wind roared for just a moment and then passed. It felt like words of blessing, some kind of whirling baptism.

And it was in such a perfect context, having just read that paragraph from Gilead. I needed that grace today. I needed that respite. Beauty is never just beauty, it always carries the loving intention of our God.