Stillwater
The drop that you hold in your hand
Is part of the water which was the cradle of all life
On this planet Aeons ago
The first rain that splashed down on the hot earth
To form the first sea.
Each drop, in sunlight
has risen from the sea in countless ages
and fallen to the earth again
as rain
The drop that you hold in your hand
has been a prism forming myriad rainbows
has travelled underground streams
bubbling through dark caverns
the architect of cathedral caves
formed valleys
and split granite
The drop that you hold in your hand
has flowed down broad rivers
has risen in the sap of trees
has been the sweat of slaves
and the tears of children
it has become the foam topped waves
and deep unfathomable depths
of vast dark lakes
and seas
The drop that you hold in your hand
has been part of the great flood
it has been a dewdrop on a blade of grass
a drop that has pounded
through the hearts of whales in blood
and lain in an eagle’s egg
it has travelled in the fluid of a poet’s brain
and dripped from the wounds of the dying
The drop that you hold in your hand
has been trapped in the snows of the arctic
reflected the sun in a desert oasis
and refreshed the weary
This drop
unimaginably old
yet fresh and new
is evaporating slowly from your hand
to mingle with the air you breathe, perhaps
or drift in a sun-topped cloud
a thousand feet above the earth
Imagine its journey from your hand
where will it go?
You can direct its journey
as it evaporates
send your consciousness with it
It is the water of Life
It is still water