Two circles pause
on an island.
It’s well and good
to draw the circle of our love
around us. But within it,
how do we keep our selves
spinning true?

The circles ponder
a long while.

Finally, one answers,
There’s no getting around it.
Just as birds learn
to make great sky-circles,
we’ll fall, and in falling, grow
wings.

(Epithalamium, August 7, 2004)

My daughter recently got married–a marvelous event in every way, full of love, community, and cheer. Even when such an event is splendid in most every way, it carries its challenges–such matters as the bittersweet passage of time, reflections of those present on how well or not so well they have handled their own relationships, and so on. Ariel handed me an additional challenge: to write a few lines to say at the wedding, including several necessary metaphors. Eventually what came was this little poem, with thanks to Rumi’s original image of sky-circles.