I watched the caterpillar

Move confidently up the length of the stem

up and over and around and down again

repeating her pattern from stem to stem…

soon it was introverted–

suspended upside down

as the blade of grass bent with the breeze…

caterpillar’s mind was in a spiral whirlwind

moving freshly forward into a new reality…

…a new awareness…

you can never ever go back to where you were

there is no back…

only forward movement…

each touch…each experience

similar in some way to what was previous

but now with a different nuance

different perspective…

you are forever changed…

evolving on the spiral staircase

(The image is copyright free and in the public domain anywhere that extends copyrights 70 years after death or at least 120 years after publication when the original illustrator is unknown.)