Poetry

1. GRATITUDE


She looked up to the sky


To blessing, gift of water that


Washes away layers of dust from fields


From crops, from the ever present


Ever looming haunt of Hunger.


Water feeds hunger; water keeps them here


On this land, in this place; kept them from becoming
dust.


No water, no life.


But now the rains fell;


Deluge, it was truly a deluge!


The fields heave with new breath, quietly at first


As if awakening from a deeply, comatose state;


The land pulses; water flooding its veins.


And the rain it fell


Swirling muddy rivulets forming, and the rain it
fell.


Quenching,
quenching, water hitting dirt and


The smell of it, the rising, aromatic, earth scent


of rainwater
blending with dirt. It made her giddy.


As she felt the earth drink deeply drunkenly, as if
to forget


Being made brittle and unyielding.


Symbolism of loss and of hope, it fell and water
careened into dry riverbeds.


Children ran screaming and laughing; clutching
buckets, pans, tin cans,


So that they too could drink become drunk, with water


The rain clouds had brewed stored, distilled, now
released.


She looked up
to the sky and felt those giant teardrops


Of gratitude roll
down her cheeks.