Whirlwind

This is a reflection that grew out of the readings a couple of Sundays ago, combined with my Zen assignment for the week, which was to pay attention to silence. It was the Transfiguration, which I’d never realized is commemorated twice in the church calendar. Apparently, this is because it is one of the ‘epiphanies’ marked in the season of Epiphany, as well as having its very own feast day on August 6. ‘Epiphany’ can be translated as ‘manifestation’ or ‘realization’. A “Season of Realization,” how cool is that?

The OT reading that Sunday (which was 2 Kings 2:1-12 about Elisha and Elijah and the whirlwind) sort of rolled everything up together in my understanding. It wasn’t until last night in class that words began to come, though.

What struck me most in the reading was Elisha saying three times, to three different gaggles of gossipy prophets: “I know, be silent!”

More about silence, from the other readings: “Our God will come and will not keep silence;” and “As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one..”

Anyway, I ended up writing a poem sitting in a coffee shop downtown, before my Zen class. (Yes, I know, it doesn’t seem to have much to do with silence….)

Elisha

Wearing the whirlwind,

rags all unraveling;

Worn by the whirlwind,

tatters aflutter.

Roiling and rearing;

spilling and spooling;

over dust visible;

over rock vanishing.

Wavering, wandering;

rushing and hushing;

motes of air winding

in the world-wind.