In Caelum ego, Et in Arcadia Ego

"In the sky I am, and in paradise I am also"...a paraphrase of Poussin's famous painting title.
"I am death, and I am of the sky today."
Gravestones, black bird, and moon in the branches of a tree at Lakewood Cemetary, Minneapolis. The spirits, the birds and the moon really invented the skyways of all cultures. Our spirits imagine flight in our dreams, and we speak of departed spirits flying. The birds know the intricate subtleties of the way of the sky. The moon defines the counterpoint to day and night in the month-long cycles that give rise to mood and tide alike. But do we really know the skyway? Do our jumbo jets and space shuttles give us command of the skys? Do we walk through the skies as habitants, or as dreamers only?

Today the skies are ribboned with the faint pulse of radioactivity from Japan, and the keening grief of thousands of victims slashes the wind above the battered island. Modern technology and ancient ambitions collide. In the cemetary it all comes to the same end.

But from the place where it all ends, we lift up our eyes and see new beginnings. It is a cycle, not a straight path. That is the true way of the skyway.