A Water Poem

Blessed are those who thirst.

My wretched throat is dry.

It makes my head feel stuffy.

Water is all I think about.

I saw a pool of water in a tropical mountain, once.

Banana trees flourished around it.

Toucan birds flew over the shiny surface.

Funny fishes lived in the water.

Blessed are those who thirst.

My head aches with dehydration.

My body is hot without moisture.

Water is driving me crazy.

I saw a dancing fountain in a city park, once.

People jogged their dogs around it.

I watched it leap joyously toward the sky.

Copper presidents lived in the water.

Blessed are those who thirst.

I am so thirsty.

Everywhere I look I see what I crave.

It is available.

I will drink deep and long.I will drink water continually,

even when I don't think I need it because if I drink all the time,

I will never be thirsty again.

The Heart-Seeker

Once, in the hills

where the streamlets start,

lived a shepherd who gathered hearts.

Many he found

that were quite misplaced

to clean and hang in a glass suitcase.

When all the land

was sorted through,

the shepherd left home to find some new.

He dove far down

where the green rocks grow

and angled his flashlight beam down low.

The ground was wet

with slippy moss

and tadpoles stank in an algae toss.

Some sandy banks

were gray with mould

and blind, white birds froze in the cold.

Far to the side

hidden in soot

was splintered glass that cut his foot.

But then a gleam

returned his own-

he saw a heart under a stone!

The stone was large

with crushing weight;

the shepherd hoped he was not too late.

He gently dug

to loosen it.

The heart was stiff and quite frostbit.

He strained to move

the stone away,

and groaning, it began to sway.

But, oh, alas-

The shepherd saw

that on the heart the rock would fall!

He raised his hands

and caught the stone.

The weight pushed him to his shinbones.

His counter push

confused the rock

which tripped upon a frozen flock.

It slowly rolled

up on its side

and, falling down, the great stone died.

The cold was stunned,

the tadpoles stared,

the birds screamed, and the place despaired.

The shepherd rose

a little weaker.

He was a triumphant heart-seeker!

He hurried home

and cleaned the heart

to treasure as collected art.