Widening Circles
I live my life in widening circles
that reach out across the world.
I may not complete this last one
but I will give myself to it.
I circle around God, around the primordial tower.
I've been circling for thousands of years
and I still don't know: am I a falcon, a storm, or a great song?
— Rainer Maria Rilke
The soul does not travel in a straight line. It spirals — returning again and again to what is essential. Perhaps the question Rilke leaves us — falcon, storm, or song? — is not one we are meant to answer, but one we are meant to become, over and over, in each widening arc of our becoming.
