You Are                                                                                                Sun, 21st September, 2014

For Betsy, in celebration of our 21st Wedding Anniversary

​You are to me the gift of water,
The pure and precious source of life
Moving within me and around me.
Flowing through my veins and living
Within my very breath.

Wherever I look, there you are,
Falling as beauty from rainclouds,
Resting as a jewel for an hour on a leaf,
Yielding to gentle gravity as you let yourself
Flow outward, downward, to pools of tranquility.

You are the still waters that I yearn for.
Let me commune now with your loving presence,
Looking upon your face, and then seeing
My own reflection gazing back at me,
Knowing perfect union, confluence, atonement.

You are my river of living,
Let me drink and eat and rest in the
Cool shade of sycamores that you nourish.
Let me make my life's dwelling place here,
For I would shrivel and die in the unloving desert.

You, upon whose flowing breast
Laden vessels effect their commerce,
Bringing spices and silk, coal and questing Vikings,
A thoughtful exchange of ideas and yes, even feelings,
Traded hand to hand like precious beads.

You are the patience that draws
A gentle stream into a mighty river,
Rivers to vast and heaving oceans.
You are the drumbeat that erodes ramparts
And polishes stones to lustrous perfection.

You are strength and fearsome power
When the elements stir you to anger,
Rising, swelling, crashing to remind all
Who care to listen that you will rise up
With thunderclap to speak your truth.

But above all, you are the journey,
The running, swirling, gurgling flow
Of one existence into the unknown next,
Niagara waters who flow faithful, unflinching,
Plunging headlong with grace and beauty.

You, beautiful water, temper my fire,
Nourish my earth and infuse my every breath
With your peace, your life, your presence.
Let us be one on the lifelong journey,
Tumbling over rock and branch to find repose.

And, after reflecting sky, to rise up and join it,
Sunfire lifting us, calling us into cloud,
That we may reinvent ourselves as abundant showers
Poured out freely upon all who know thirst,
To all who will dare to come out and dance in the rain.