my friend Becky just posted
that the loons are back
yes
they’re back on the lake
they are absolutely beautiful
and the sound of each yodel
announcing their arrival
is unique and haunting
but i wonder
where do loons go
and where have they been
maybe the Gulf of Mexico
or the Florida coast
i’m not sure
wherever it is
there’s an inner pull
i suspect food and weather
have a lot to do with it
to make that move south
but then
they eventually return and unbelievably
to the very same watering place
that too is inherent
well in some ways I’m kinda like the loon
trying to fly to that alleged
better place there on the shores of mortal want
but migrating birds
and a wandering prodigal
are not the same deal
one is natural
but the other
people like me
who are drowning in the gestalt
of personal and societal vagaries
ever looking for more
but for more what
more having
more getting
more control more justice
more happiness
more pleasure
maybe more credibility
no matter
whatever
just more
i don’t know if this is true
but it seems
we get discontented
demand change
and then politicians battle
with their weapons of words
and prudent remedies
for whatever their ends
but somehow we manage to return
to where we were before
and with each new generation
comes another corrosive twist
i have to think
maybe naively
that permanent change in the world
comes from somewhere else
and my best guess
is that it comes through qualities like
peacemakers the merciful those who forgive others before themselves those who don’t stop doing the next right thing
the generous the kind the humble
the gentle ones and those who exercise self control
but most of all to love God and our neighbors without strictures
so how do we keep missing that
these bring about so much joy
and healing in the world
people respond to them
desire them
hold fast to them
are moved by them
and changed as a result of them
and like the loon returning
these for us
that of sovereign root
the proverbial homing signals
to guide us
protect us
ever keeping us
and that’s a beautiful thing
a poem by greg nelson
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The Human Wave 