Water

1
I am water; I do not break.
I am one; I never end.
Where I begin, there is no end;
where I end, there is no beginning.

2
I am all the water from the past;
I am all the water from the start;
I am all the water there is now;
I am all the water there will be.

3
What is in my way I go around,
I cannot stop, I find my way.
I fill valleys, I surround mountains.
I surrender, I do not break.

4
That which goes will always return.
What goes to the sky returns.
What goes to the land returns.
That which is lost will always be found.

5
Whomever I resist, I destroy;
whomever I support, I create.
I arrive with life, will not be denied;
I always receive, never deny the dead.

6
I remember each part, each frozen
moment, sudden separate islands
rise from valleys; mountains fall;
I am always part of all of it.

7
I am only at rest when trapped/
the bubble in the builder’s level.
Transparent, out of depth, I am naked/
you need me more than you know.

8
Join me with air there is fire.
Join me with earth, continents convulse.
Join me with fire, I am power.
Join me with water, I am one.

9
I make the weak strong—
I am stronger than anyone.
I cannot stand but only fall.
I am so weak, I cannot move.

10
Pour me into your pitcher,
until it cannot contain me,
I cannot stop. If you deny me
I surround, drown, or go around.

11
In my constancy, I am transient.
In my immortality, always erased.
In motion, I remain in one place;
At rest I cannot sleep, I cannot stop.

12
I am one; I am always alone.
I continuously divide and suffer
loss of self from self. I yearn to join
again, to wash away my fear of loss.

<This begins my seventh book, now titled Numbers & Piano. This poem starts the book as Number One, One Element>