I am the Aquifer
in the deep gorge.

I'm rain.

I was water for the many herds
who drank from me.
I'm shelter from the deluge;
treasure house of oxygen
and minerals
which seep
into my rooms
in deep soils replenishing.

I'm life's ecology.
The water source
of all chemistry
and you are my children.

Hear my sad tears.

I taste dirty waterings
and poisonings.


Plentiful I was in the
early years,
under deserts I was salvation for the caravans,
well source for the Egyptians
reservoir for villagers,
beast bird and fowl;
insect and amoebae
all drank from me.
I was the culture source for all life.
My rivers spawned civilization.

Now, I am retreated.
A mixed drink,
consumed
with a steel straw,
nonrenewable;
sipped with too much
over-confidence
and greed.

My table is thin.
My offerings slim.
My purity waned.

I seep below my own level
scattering precious tear-drops
vulcanized to bloody steam
and sometimes I explode
up up
to the blasting cone
and I am deposited amid the ruin,
into the gorge again.

I am slower;
my cycle recedes,
my dry tears howl.

I see Harmony's Crown
crashing down.

I see the End of Plenty
and Horsemen moving
looming, looming, looming;
climate backing up,
bent down eyes,
reeling waterfalls
receding times,
calm resignations,
generations lined up,
against the wall,
whole cities caterwaul,
lakes pirouette,
swirling times sweep up,
all regrets,
all maybes,
all lost,
all gone.

I was the Aquifer
life sustaining;
now, a shadowy voice
dumbfounded
drilled down
in weeping earth.