Learning to fall

Take the high wire;
do not think of falling;
from the beginning, eyes forward,
do not look down.

The first step is the bridge to the next,
is the wing raised and spread
over all the moments of the act
without stop or thought,
a reel cast above the water,
skimming, weighted, alighting.

But hesitate and the foot
grows heavy. You must fall then.
Become the wing
outspread in air,
the crumpled paper smoothed
between two palms
to a creased sheet,
arms open, legs adrift,
a dry leaf sailing.
Abandon the vertical
and the net will not fail you.