Sylphs


In essence, the SYLPH is a wisp
of air, deliquescent, sometimes
colored by reflections of sun
glinting off particles of ozone
and oxide in the troposphere
which is their habitat, and may seem
as slips of pale pink, or pale gold,
or become opalescent,
or never appear to appear at all.

They are simple presences only.
When not resting on thermal hammocks,
or attracted to the pleasance
that emanates from musings,
they are taken up by GUSTS
and blown about, or they may drift
in the trailings of clouds
or descend; breath of bee
and butterfly, turn white
and float as Caddis do, or dally
in the vibrations made
from hummingbirds’ wings.
They are a confusion
to HYDRA and MANTICHORE.

INNOCENCE has named them;
Chance & Gesture.  Frailty.
Glimpse & Vision.  Purity.
Paradise.

In dissolution, wind and water
conspire to replenish another
unknown to the thing itself,
and thus the SYLPH is parthenogenic   

and this accounts for the continuation
of their simple presence,
these wisps of air, with or without
color, or direction.​