skipping stones

i believe in you and me
– and a we that leads from here to there and back again.
i believe in the long way round that gets somewhere by dark.

i believe in day and the night
– and in shadows that fall in all four directions.
i believe we can learn to hear across distance that echoes.

i believe in shores foreign and familiar
– and that we can meet (t)here without dashing ourselves or others on the rocks.
i believe some things are dashing and crashing and burning for a reason.

i believe difference is stone skipping across water

i believe in all kinds of things
– that are watching and working and wondering and wanting.
i believe they will not wait forever.

i believe in learning that lingers
– and in lifespans longer than you can imagine.
i believe teachings trip us up until they become love.

i believe eyes see what they remember
– even when they do not see at all.
i believe seeing and believing are not the same.

i believe truth is stone skipping across water

i believe that gathering in among the breathless
– calls to mind brothers and sisters who are not breathing still.
i believe calling is commitment is care is community.

i believe that nature and nurture are more than
– culture and belonging, too.
i believe rocks carry hard things that matter.

i believe that worlds fit in pockets and palms
– and that time is eternity lived in the blink of an eye.
i believe measurement is an errand that makes fools out of you and me.

i believe spirit is stone skipping across water

i believe in formation over frameworks, and people over profits
– in lives and lifetimes, in dyads and triads and quadrants, and so many lists.
i believe all 26-letters are speaking someone’s language.

i believe what you believe matters
– even when it chafes and churns. 
i believe some things are not worth believing.

i believe that some beliefs cause grave harm
– and that claims can crucify or resurrect.
i believe all beliefs are not made equal, even when we call one another by name.

i believe life is stone skipping across water

i believe that rest is holy
– relationship, too.
i believe that reckoning is a reflection of us all.

i believe the sum is creation of her many parts
– even those missing, especially those excluded. 
i believe humanity to be an audacious hope and a wild dream. 

i believe the future is already happening
– it might be here.
i believe histories are always repeating. 

i believe time is stone skipping across water

i believe yours and mine are training wheels
– ours is aspirational at best.
i believe the work is to keep reaching for them.

i believe in a here that hears
– where there and theirs matter, too.
i believe in hard places where yours and mine yield to that which cannot be had.

i believe in brilliant complexities
– and ambiguities that humble.
i believe in that which is not mine to know.

were these stones all there is, i believe they would be enough

May 3, 2021