Love Grows

How simple it once was—diapers 

and meals on one end

awe, admiration, and 

total dependency on the other;

then the stretching began—

curiosity, personality, disagreement,

anxiety, joy, hopes, 

dreams, “protective custody”

One awed at individuation; 

fearful of risk, dangers;

another trying on ideas and 

beliefs like hats in a haberdashery.

Runaway horse crashing through 

deep woods on a new moon;

one releasing from without, 

clutching from within.

Youth imagines an inverse relationship 

twixt age and wisdom,

infatuated with today’s grape, 

bored with yesterday’s raisin.

Too busy reinventing the wheel 

to stop and comprehend

the inevitable consequence 

of vinegar or wine in the long run.

We are all easily confused into believing 

that the middle of life

is the heart of the matter—

the place where we imagine ourselves

masters of our own destiny, 

frantically working and deciding,

planning a future that would 

do an investment counselor proud.

Then one day we wake up and 

it’s déjà vu all over again;

dependency creeps surely but 

stealthily back into our lives,

moving us toward the way 

it was in the beginning.

We can fight it, or recognize 

the gift of human interdependence.

Oh, the pain of holding 

the illusion of self as individual!

Oh, the joy of thread 

that makes it to the loom!

Love grows not so much 

upward and outward

as it weaves us into 

the fabric of life’s circle.