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The Cup of Cold Water

(“I was thirsty, and you gave me drink.”)

 

There’s nothing like cold water

If you’ve forgotten

Allow me to remind you

The aqueducts of Rome

Spiral wells in the Atacama

Oases here and want to be there throughout the world

 

The lack of it in Flint

According to recent studies

Not trusting my tap water, either

 

That’s all right, let them drink from plastic bottles

(we can have it with our cake instead of bread)

Tell that to the lack of wells in western Africa

And those who only have the wherewithal

For thirst

 

Other than the vine

No greater metaphor in Scripture

Yours or mine

Or simply keep the paperwork

That says we cannot drink

Or of the warlords who say,

I have water

So I win

 

I once drank water through the ground

Artesian promises

But

The pressure of the

Earth is not

Enough alone

To make it clear

To keep its savor

We have ruined all of it

 

I don’t mind filters

I’m glad for Brita

But too bad I cannot trust a spring

In the desert

It’s not the suddenness of romance

But the assurance of a poison

 

I’ll take my filters now

As long as I can

I’ll arrange fundraising for

Wells in real wilderness

But for the suburban places that were made into our own

We can buy

We can vote

We can find the difference

In the basics of thirst

The right to hunger

 

C L Couch

 

 

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