Life burbles from the spring,

excited, grasping, experiencing,

rolling over the smoothed rocks

to join the waters that have

moved through here before.

Playfully it bounces--moving as a brook,

babbling, shifting, as it grows stronger.

It stays within its banks, yes,

but it slowly works on the edges--

quietly taking more space where it can.

It continues to gain strength,

to move with others of its own kind.

Yet, when one slows to fill the void

of a hole, of a vacant footprint,

some waters slow too, while others rush on.

The waters that rush on

will run stronger as a mighty river.

They’ll flow until breaking,

tumbling over the cliffside

of a great waterfall.

Yet the breaking doesn’t stop water,

instead using the energy to propel it forward,

driving itself through the well-carved canyons

of life’s opportunities and promises,

fearful of what happens if

it

stops.

If it stops, then it becomes the stagnant pond,

sickly, green, smelling of death.

Or it loses so much of itself it evaporates—

ruined by the hot sun,

Waiting to be reborn in the clouds.

Stay fluid like the water,

no matter if the banks of life threaten

to constrain you,

if the cliffs of life threaten to break you,

Just keep moving.

Ousel Falls, Big Sky, Montana, 2015

#poetry #water #elemental