CIRCLES OF LOVE

 

 As I watched the waves gently glide onto shore the other day

having rippled out from some unseen sailboat’s wake

I was reminded as a child how I loved to watch the circles form

once I tossed a stone into the middle of a lake.

I was mesmerized how out of one stone’s wake 

perfect concentric circles would flow…

how each repeated circle began life small..

and how large each one would grow.

I loved watching those circles spread out across the lake…

in a silent rhythmic beat

until they found their way to shore…and rested at my feet.

Sometimes I would count the seconds…timing how long it would take

for a circle, once it began it’s journey…to find it’s way across the lake.

Now…as I remembered a time when the world seemed more innocent and calm…

I wondered…when did the stones we once so innocently tossed 

turn into bullets and missiles and bombs.

And how is it our politicians….our lawmakers…our leaders…

after all these years still don’t understand….still do not know

the damage every bullet…every missile and every bomb will do…

and how far the circles of hatred they create will go.

How each bullet, missile and bomb they toss..

destroying buildings and killing people on their streets

will eventually have the ripple effect…and land back at their feet.

So while governments continue to toss their bullets, 

their missiles 

their bombs…

unaware, or worse, unconcerned with their ever-widening circles of hate…

I prefer to toss stones of love into my lake…stand on the shore

and see what kind of world those circles of love create.