Where were you born?

by Eleanor Lord

I was born in a small eddy at the edge of a woodland stream.  Was I a slip of cells, a naiad, a water deva?  I stand now at the edge, listening to babbling, singing water and sigh, calm, complete.

In summer, the whirling water smells of damp soil and bright, moist moss.  I press my feet onto the stony streambed and dip my cupped hands for a taste of the bright water essence.

In winter, when the temperature falls quickly, drops of spray freeze on the overhanging branches, turning into fine, lacy, whorled shelves of ice.

To remember where I came from, where I am the most alive, brightens me.  When I feel parched, alone and have lost the ease and focus of a rill, I bring these images back.  I feel charged, alive and clear.

Our bodies are more than sixty percent water.  Over seventy percent of the earth's surface is covered in water.  All mammals, reptiles and many insects are born from water.  Our first nine months we live in water.  We cannot survive beyond three days without water.  Why do we take this essential resource for granted?  How can people grow rich, horde or pollute this elemental being?  How can we survive?