Gaia's gift

by Pat Sutherland


Water burbles, water drips,
water moistens thirsty lips
water flows and water splashes
water hisses, water crashes
water laps, and slaps and falls
water trickles, water crawls.

Water sings and water dances,
trickles, surges, drips and prances
Water treats and cures our ills,
water harms and water kills
as tempests rage and heaven frowns,
water invades and water drowns.

Water's blue and water's green,
Water's frenzied and serene
water's snow and ice and rain
springing life in arid plain
water's clear, or curdled foam,
Water's our ancestral home.

Blessing in a time of drought,
the gift
earth
cannot
         live
without.