'Blessing of the water'

'Blessing of the water'              timothy r gates, 1/6/2014




Out of water,
the primordial bath,
Ish rested as red dirt
a voice who had spoken into the void,
"Let there be light,"
now breathes into life -- life.
Isha knew this story well.
Lilith, a parentheses,
she-demon, or feminist proto-genesis,
she has her song.
Water covered the Earth
Water gives infants birth
Water is our body
Water baptizes us
Water baptizes
Water spreads the Red Sea
Water spreads Jordan's stream
Water falls upon the Earth
Water rises, giving neo-genesis
Water kills
Water hears a Dove's hymn.
Myths, legends, stories of peoples --
in our Blessed Repose we die,
returning to our red dust,
mixed with the earth's water.
As mud we give life,
holding hands with primordial ooze,
a living soul.
Buddhists bless this life-giver
Hindus too
Jews and Muslims know the Tigris–Euphrates
Yeshua knew Jordan and Galilee.
Out to dry land, or a wet grave --
the water is blessed,
blesses,
intoning,
God grant you many years
or, the chant of the reposed,
Memory Eternal.