I See People In Their Water

I see people in their water
Claiming water rights against
People passing by on the way to the sea

I see people wave divining rods against gravity
Bricking wells over bickering
People scratching the sand for any moist hope

I see people damning it up for hydraulic power
Using it to wash the dirt off and below
People rationing, people saturating

I see folks just sit under bridges watching it roll by

I see it fall from sky,
On eyes forgotten and dry
I feel it the same,
Running through me red and sweet

I see people squeeze it from rocks
See it tear up and drip into a smile
I see people scrape it from cold windows
Cursing the frost of their freedom

See it bead on the worker’s brow
See it bubble before late dinner hour
See it douse other fires than simple flame

See it dreamt of as lost clouds
Over the horizon

See the birds shake it from wing

See it molder and shudder,
An old puddle stepped in deep
Beneath the canopy.

See folks drown in it
By murder or despair

Find it seeping from broken pipe

See glades given sun
Once a day

See it bought, traded and given away

See truth in it
Reflected rippling as a lie
See it spit upon the golden face of misery

Feel it run through your hair,
Living life as we run
From storm to storm
Kissing under our parasol quietly