The Perfect Circle Poem by Jim Yerman

Have you ever read a book to your child, back when they were young and more carefree?
They pick out a book, brings it to you, then climb up on your knee.

With your arms outstretched holding the book you and your child feel safe and warm…and you realize at that moment a perfect circle has been formed.

Your arms forming a circle with your child in the center.
A circle so intimate that for a short time…no one else can enter.

I hope we've all been blessed to be the center of a circle just like this…which usually ends with a sigh or a smile...perhaps a little kiss.

Soon that child gets too big for our knee as they grow into a woman or a man…and so we find ourselves searching for perfect circles where and when we can.

There are moments around the dinner table when you smile because you're aware…as you scan from face to face to face…that the perfect circle is right there.

There are moments around a campfire where laughter is the norm…while kneeling down toasting a marshmallow you feel the warmth of that circle form.

You find these circles in instants…the fun is never knowing where they might be…when they'll be captured by your heart and imprinted in your memory.

We hope our children and grandchildren remember when they sat upon our knee
We hope the circles we form extend out…like ripples on the sea

For, that is the beauty of the circles we create amidst our family and friends…once formed, that circle is unbreakable...
because a circle never ends.