Flowing Water at Huntington Gorge

Huntington Gorge: April 2nd, 2012

Water

I was born in a drouth year.  That summer

my mother waited in the house, enclosed

in the sun and the dry ceaseless wind,

for the men to come back in the evenings,

bringing water from a distant spring.

veins of leaves ran dry, roots shrank.

And all my life I have dreaded the return

of that year, sure that it still is

somewhere, like a dead enemy’s soul.  Fear

of dust in my mouth is always with me,

and I am the faithful husband of the rain,

I love the water of wells and springs

and the taste of roofs in the water of cisterns.

I am a dry man whose thirst is praise

of clouds, and whose mind is something of a cup.

My sweetness is to wake in the night

after days of dry heat, hearing the rain. - Wendell Berry

The above poem was my inspiration for writing the poem below.  Although not directly related in anyway, I have always been fond of Berry's work.  Below is my poem that I wrote while on site at Huntington Gorge.  Enjoy!

My Water Poem


The water flows so steady
Summer so close I am more than ready
Swimming in the waters
feeling like becoming one of the otters.
The crisp clear water of Huntington Gorge
The waters so strong, beautiful shapes they forge.
They say, beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder,
but beauty here is certainly in the boulder.
- Scott Camp, 2012