Pure Spirit

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A mind too active is no mind at all;
The deep eye sees the shimmer on the stone

The eternal seeks, and finds, the temporal,

The change from dark to light of the slow moon,

Dead to myself, and all I hold most dear,

I move beyond the reach of wind and fire.

Deep in the greens of summer sing the lives

of all I've come to love. A vireo whets its bill.

The great day balances upon the leaves;

My ears still hear the bird when all is still;

My soul is still my soul, and still the Son,

And knowing this, I am not yet undone.

Things without hands take hands; -there is no choice-

Eternity's not easily come by.

When opposites come easily into place,

I teach my eyes to hear, my ears to see

How body from spirit slowly does unwind

Until we are pure spirit at the end.

~ Theodore Roethke