The Stones

The stones skip
two, three, four times
before the sea takes them back

The sun sets
like a prayer
no one hears

There was a time
when we carried each other
with open hands
without counting the cost

Those who saw us
knew us not by our words
but by how we bent
toward one another

The bread was broken
and with it we broke
ourselves for each other

Then the sky fell silent
and the silence grew too long
We built walls of certain answers
and called it faithfulness

Behind the walls
a different silence
than the one we knew at first

The first was rest
this one is absence

Some evenings by the sea
when the light fades
and the stones skip across the water
we still hear it
far away

See how they love one another

Still the stones skip
but the ripples do not reach as far

Still the bread remains
but who breaks it now