4UJ
You’re laughing more and more,
each day in isolation,
at my foolish scolding of you

and of the world.  Your mirth
increases as this new way
of showing love takes hold. 

A surprise flowering—this doubling
of compassion for ourselves,
for each other and for our universe

leads to expanding circles
that move outwards round
and round, like the ripples

born of stones thrown
on a windless day onto the shine
of the hilltop pond.
.                                   4/26/2020