Saturday, June 17, 2023

Peter Tarlton

I would choose to be H20 - with its multiple personalities,

As a teapot’s airborne steam or muggy humidity on a summer day

Or cold Conestoga clouds, floating above mountain peaks.

At times to condense into liquid drops to nourish growth,

Or flow and carve riverbeds to bring fresh water to creatures,

Or calm the hearts of humans who view scenic lakes.

Yet also configure in an infinite variety of snowflakes,

To cover hillside slopes for joyful skiers in winter seasons,

Seep into groundwater aquifers with Spring, or solidify into

Glaciers, to store and release flows over eons of time,

Balancing changes in climate and earthly rotations.

How is it that the sun is made of hydrogen, to send heat and

Light energy to earth, whose atmosphere is mostly nitrogen

Yet hydrogen and oxygen combine to form vast, deep oceans,

Do we understand awe, when it helps us contemplate such

Powerfully creative variety? If not, perhaps consider humans,

Who exist with eighty percent water in our bodies!

And then wonder…

If H2O has personalities and transitions, then why can’t humans?

If water may somehow come from the Universe, and is in us,

What eternal Spirit is operating everywhere, moving so far around and

So kindly dwelling within us, as a possible answer to “whose we are?”

Then be thankful that we are part of such amazing, loving complexity!

Peter W. Tarlton March 26, 2023 New Castle, NH