SYLPHS and UNICORNS

Written June 24, 2004 – on the road

Sylphs have been on my mind.

As we drove to the east coast, clouds whirled like white lace on blue silk above the highway. Legend says that spirits of the air called Sylphs disguise themselves as wispy clouds as they monitor the Earth’s atmosphere. Sylphs govern the winds, clean the air, create windstorms when needed. They are cousins to the Undines, spirits of water. Both serve as balancers and regulators of the elements, according to those legends. A person might catch a sylph dancing as a cloud, and never know it.

We saw one for sure in Maryland. Gary and I sat on a cliff overlooking the Patuxent River. Swans swerved through the water’s ripples, slower than the lazy sailboats. The sunset turned the river pastel pink and blue, reflecting the cloud patches above. Four white swans wove back and forth across the sparkling gold path linking the beach to the setting sun.

I glanced up. The clouds had formed a perfect swan shape. Pink swan, dark gray beak and wing, dark blue strip beneath to represent the river. We stared, amazed. What perfect coincidence! After fifteen minutes the sunset passed, the cloud dispersed, and we were left in the wake of awe. Was it a sylph?

These legendary creatures really appeal to my desire for a just and innocent world. Unicorns: only the pure in heart can see them. Brownies come into peoples’ homes at night to help with tasks while they sleep. I want to live in a world where Sylphs swirl over the highway cleaning up the fumes from our cars, while Undines scrub the ocean.

As Gary and I recreate ourselves, maybe we should shed our jaded skepticism too. Some cultures view absolutely everything as alive. Why can’t we? This is a good day to look for Unicorns. I’ll leave a job list for the Brownies tonight, and check the sky for Sylphs.

I just hope there are no Undines in my bathtub.




© Copyright 2005 bonnie willow.