L'eau de Vie (The waters of life)
The clouds are dark and black, filled with vapor
The vapor transforms into drops as the particles collide
The drops turn to rain, falling to earth in a new storm of life
The rain forms a stream, rushing onward,
over the rocks and trees that often block the way
The stream joins with other streams to become a river
A baton falls into the river and flows with it
As the banks widen, the river slows as often happens in life
It lazes for a while as it has lost the joy of youth
but then the river is joined by a younger river
This river is rushing, full of life
The waters of the new river mingle with the waters of the old river,
bringing encouragement, healing and a sparkle that only youth can bring
They travel together as their thoughts and actions bond
in a sharing of visions, joy and peace
But up ahead there is a fork
Both rivers, now moving as one, can see it and they fear the breaking of the bond
At the fork, they swirl together for a last time,
sharing the joy of discovery and the knowledge of divergence
For each knows they cannot journey any further as one
At the fork, the rivers split, moving away from each other
on their separate journeys, but now, each river has a baton
The old river runs faster and deeper, charged by the joining
The younger river, filled with more knowledge, slows in its journey
until it too is joined by a new river and they share the experiences of the old river
At each fork, the batons split, each river taking one so it can
be passed on to younger streams, the knowledge accumulating along the way
The rivers flow through their lives as they journey
to their ultimate destination which is
the ocean of fulfillment, where all rivers meet again
In the ocean we are warmed by our mutual experiences
We are refreshed by the joining, we glow in the shimmering light
as the sun warms us. We turn to vapor and rise to the clouds
where we are cooled by the stars of the night sky
awaiting the birth of a new day in a new world
As we see the light, we realize we must part
We turn into tears for we know it is time to leave
The tears become rain, falling onto a parched land
where the drops join together into a stream,
and a baton falls into the waters
The stream rushes to the river
learning as it flows
and when the waters join, they are renewed
as they journey together for a while
toward the ocean of fulfillment
By Gordon Smith
© 2010 Gordon Smith all rights reserved
