It seemed she had forgotten them,
the way they fell, in random pattern
like raindrops shaken
from a branch
into a pond
(the ripples moving out silently
to intersect noiselessly,
patterns of expanding circles
enveloping each other)

They seemed to fall without intent,
and yet,
in the moments following,
the melody they made
(repeating and inverting,
echoing and spreading)
kept on reverberating
till their meaning
and their message
had made themselves
indelibly clear.

©Wendy Mulhern
January 3, 2014