may they be unbroken

circles can break

what am I about?
when I drop down below all my pretense,
all my busy work of doing all I do,
all the stuff & fluff with which I distract myself,
I touch the chasm into which I can drop into sorrow,
the chasm out of which the power can quake me,
as I live for moments in the truth of aweing reality,

we can trick ourselves that all is tranquil,
yet we play with fire, we work with fire, we can be the fire,
I follow the fires I can barely though truly touch,
and which draw me as a moth to a flame,

what I want to do, what I want to do most surely,
is help every circle the fire can weave to be unbroken:
every student I teach,
every person I can realize I love,
every thing I can do with my gifts
of words, insight, pictures, work,
every connection, whether in family, friend,
or the larger & larger culture,

with my life I labor to make the circles be unbroken.


by Henry H. Walker
September 7, ’11