WATER’S OTHER NAME
By: Mary David
The power I contain and bestow
on all who embrace me
cannot be found anywhere else
My touch is one that
gives life,
emboldens the frail
and strengthens
the fiercest of gladiators
That is why, across the globe,
everyone searches for me
I do not discriminate
But my gifts are so divine
that the mighty hoard me for themselves,
afraid to share even a breadcrumb
of what I have to offer
The beauty that buds,
Blossoms in my wake
is enchanting,
so very healing
that those who possess me
refuse to let me go
Desperate for more growth that they cannot find apart from me,
those who have met me
hold me captive
releasing me only to mingle with those they deem worthy
Anyone else, they feel, would be a waste of my riches.
But this is how I know
they do not love me
They use me
as a means to an end
to soothe their own aches
taking and taking
as if I am only meant to be a bandaid
instead of the panacea
that those who truly appreciate me experience
I am not found everywhere
but I am grounded in abundance
and would flourish
if hoarders in the halls of power
let me trickle
to the dying places
Oh the brilliance that would
part the clouds
if those who were so obliviously reliant on me
would invite strangers to their dinner table
Instead, the same family surrounds me at mealtime
gulping me down like medicine
instead of savoring me with reverence
Swelling with health, fortune, resilience,
they sometimes carelessly toss me aside
for something less satisfying
while their cousins beg forlornly with pleading eyes
through the window
No one takes notice
as the crowd outside grows from longing
until the cries of forgotten hearts
hits so high a decibel
that the windows break
and the dinner table shatters
In the end, selfishness killed them all.
You thought I was speaking of water
but what if I told you
my name was compassion?
What if I told you
we are the same thing?
165 AWARENOW / THE SOURCE EDITION
www.IamAwareNow.com