Bring the Circle Round

Written for my sister Carol, a strong patriot, trying to imagine us bridging our differences and creating a new story of the country we could believe in.

Circle round my friends and gather

There are questions we must answer

In this time of such dimensions

At our central bond

How did we get so divided

As if we are all on trial?

Let us face without denial

What is going on

Chorus: One is you, two is me

A thousand more might make us see

No one goal, just all our names

Take it back from where it came—

And bring the circle round

It might take a wild mending

Here where our strands are blending

Where the one spills into many

Woven in the bond

Where is the endless story

Scattered lights, a flickering glory

Harbors gleam within their mooring

Humble in the bond

]Chorus]

Here in the mouth of prairies

Rest our tongues, wake up our caring

Deep the roots & wide the daring

Rising in the sun

Here at the circle’s center,

Place our hands and make it tremble,

Feel the greed begin to splinter—

On and on and on

[Chorus]

Here where the night is falling

Seek the lights where they are drawing

Us to name the sacred calling

Bring the circle round

Spark our hearts again to grooming

What might be a second tuning

Of a universal blooming—

And bring the circle round [repeat]