Jutta's Stairs

Jutta's Stairs

Something

ascends

and

descends

these

stairs.

What is it?

Sunlight?

Song?

Silence?

It is

a

mystery.

Bach

the old magician

got here first

who jauntily

saunters down

from the

upper

reaches,

with the choir and

Jutta

her self,

the conductor,

the captive

at the heart

of it

All.

His

music blooms

across the arches

of the ceiling.

But

it never

stays

it flies

where

it

will.

In between

his notes

is

his

silence.

That silence is

here

yes ~ here.

And

here.

It sings too.

The spiral sings

in all directions ~

from the center

outward

from the infinite

inward.

The up

goes down.

The down

ascends.

The music

blossoms

ever

outward.

The silence

sifts

ever

inward.

The

mystery

of

Jutta’s

stairs.

by Paul Hawkwood

Note: My friend Jutta is the organist and choirmaster at a lovely church in rural Germany. Her name (pronounced “Yoota”) comes from the Germanic name Eutha, which means “mankind, child, descendant,” which I didn’t learn until after I wrote this poem. I tried to work this bit of synchronicity into the poem, but it didn’t want to go, so I put it here for your enjoyment.