Love's Knot

Love’s Knot

For Jerry King

Life works like this, I’ve seen, for

Love demands it, and therefore, it is:

Paths collide, life lines intersect,

Tangle, tie, merge, and embrace,

Leaving their marks on each other,

And when pulled tightly together,

They resonate, sending harmonic

Vibrations, circling outward, unseen

Testaments, heard and deeply felt

By open hearts attached to welcome

Ears in need of such reminders.

Time pulls those strings tighter.

Battle and tension tested, stress built

Are the ties that bind, and blest be

Are we, secured in such sticky webs.

Something there is, though, that doesn’t

Love a web, singing and dancing, solo,

Pinocchio’s anthem of independence,

Afraid of becoming a paperclip, made

Brittle by too much bending, unable

To hold anything together, a guitar

String tuned too high, snapping, flying,

Out of control, then removed and cast

Aside, replaced by a newer, shinier

More vibrant edition, a heart who tried

To love fully, honestly, and lost, was left

Empty, used, and broken. Time moves

On and life lines separate. Aye, there’s

The risk. Is there hope for the broken

Life lines? Of course, I think so, but why

Do I?  Because they never actually break.

Such is the illusion—the webs’ cords

Are always there—when we cut them

And when they seem to snap and cut

Us, which is why our hearts must stay

Open, and why our ears must welcome

Love’s harmonic reminders. Thank you

For the music we made together. I’ll

Be listening always. The knots Love

Ties never come loose, so I will feel

Each vibration you send down the line,

And I’ll always be strumming on my end.

- Rev. Peter T. Atkinson