Ripples

By Bruce Coville

No one acts in isolation

And no act leaves the world the same.

Words and gestures ripple outward,

What shores they reach we cannot name.

All our lives end in a riddle –

A mystery without an answer,

For even gone we ripple on,

Like a dance without the dancer.

Did you extend a friendly hand?

Did you lift a battered spirit?

The one you helped helped someone else

Ah! Now we’re getting near it.

That second someone dropped despair

Did not give in, instead revived

To teach, to love, to fight, to dare,

And what you’ve done lived on, survived.

On and out the circle widens,

Past all hope of comprehending.

The slightest touch can change the world

Healing, helping, lifting, mending.

Actions last for generations

Our fathers’ mothers mold our hearts.

We in turn shape all that follows;

Each time we act, a ripple starts.

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