Petals and Paradox
If petals fall on Avon water streams,
Their pinkness disappears. The river flows
Unchanged, unchanging. Changelessness forms dreams
In minds of gods and holy men. It grows
And yet it does not grow. It cannot grow
If it is God. Perfection cannot change
Since it is ever perfect. It must glow
Undimmed, undimming. Change alone is strange
In Christ and Allah, in Jehovah’s throne,
So strange it is impossible. A stream
That comes from highest heaven surges prone
To nothing but exactness. It must gleam
While changing never while unchanging yet.
Both change and changelessness play, a duet.
~ Phillip Whidden