a picnic, on a nice warm day. sky as blue as her eyes, and clouds free of the gray of rain.

her head on your stomach.

you reach out and pull out a strand of grass. your hand rests on her stomach, twirling the grass between your fingers.

"circles," you say, "are weird. but great. because they're never ending. there's no beginning. no end. it's also got different meanings."

she turns her head and looks at you.

"it could be a noun. meaning a ring or halo. it could mean the orbit of something in the heavens. it could mean a group of people sharing a common like."

you take the blade of grass and tie it

into a circle.

"it's also a verb. to move or revolve around. among others."

you hold her hand and put the circle of grass on her ring finger of her left hand. a cloud passes over the sun, and then clears it again.

"circles. revolving. sharing. heaven. a ring."

she's on her side now, looking at your face, trying to read the lines as you pause.

"the earth's a big circle, if you ignore that it's not really a circle. and on the earth is grass. and from the grass i made you this ring."

you're holding her hand now. even the wind has stopped breathing.

"life's supposed to be a circle, too. from ashes to ashes, dust to dust and everything. come from the ground, return to the ground."

you've never been long winded before, but you can't get to the point now.

"there used to be a belief that, many years ago, people had four legs, four arms, two faces. the gods, for their reasons, lightning and thundering, ripped the people in half. these days people try to find their other half. to be complete again. a circle."

she's on her elbows now. her face right above yours.

you finger the circle of grass on her finger. spin it around.

"i can't promise you much. i can't give you much. all i can do and say is that i love you. as long as there are circles, as long as there is grass, that's as long as i'll love you. i'd like to marry you, you know?"

also:

my pants have been wet FOR THE THIRD DAY IN A ROW.

poor poor wet ass bum me.