16/09/2026
from Closing the Circle
Within the circles of our lives,
we dance the circles of the years,
the circles of the seasons within the circles of the years
the circles of the moon
within the circles of the seasons,
the circles of our reasons,
within the cycles of the moon.
Again, again we come and go, changed, changing Hands
join, enjoin in love and fear, grief and joy.
The circles turn, each giving into each, into all.
Only music keeps us here.
Each by all the others held.
In the hold of hands and eyes,
we turn in pairs, that joining,
that joining each to all again.
And then we turn aside, alone,
out of the sunlight gone
into the darker circles of return.
--Wendell Berry (who died 31/10/2026)
native American art by Ayla Bouvette
