Water has been much on my mind the last few days. My sister lives in Oklahoma City, where more than 370,000 people were without power (I think over 200,000 still are) due to a massive, crippling ice storm. My sister was one of those without power for a while, though thankfully her household once again has electricity.
Last night in our area, due to a damaged water main, we were without water. Today, we have running water (insert: renewed gratitude for flushing toilets!) but are being advised to boil water for consumption, food prep, and dishes for the coming days. 2020 is the gift that just keeps on giving, isn't it?
Still, there is so much to be grateful for and that's what we're trying to focus on. Poetry Friday is one of those things. Emerson's poem covers it all: water as friend, foe, and everything in between. I hadn't read this one before but it seemed to cover all of this week's bases.
Water
by Ralph Waldo Emerson
The water understands
Civilization well;
It wets my foot, but prettily,
It chills my life, but wittily,
It is not disconcerted,
It is not broken-hearted:
Well used, it decketh joy,
Adorneth, doubleth joy:
Ill used, it will destroy,
In perfect time and measure
With a face of golden pleasure
Elegantly destroy.
~~~~~~~~~~
9 comments:
Uggggh no water during a pandemic wherein you're meant to really be washing your hands!? We had our water cut off last week for a main leakage - which, during fire season, is seriously problematic. We're a mess, aren't we? Small disasters on every side. And yet - gratitude has to be the attitude of the day - in life as in this poem. We have things like water and fire which can both create and destroy us and for us. A reminder to be wise stewards. Thanks for sharing this poem - it's an Emerson I'd not read before either!
We had no water for 48 hours last December. Maybe it was getting us prepared for 2020. Pandemic and (minor) earthquakes has been quite enough! Having no water for a while certainly made us appreciate modern plumbing and sanitation. I'm glad you got your flush back reasonably quickly.
I would love to have met Ralph Waldo Emerson. I have a little book of his quotes & am always satisfied with his wise words when I read it. I don't know this one, but it's very clever, isn't it. He shows its power in quite a subtle way. I'm sorry that you lost the water, then now have to boil it. Our systems are so often quite old & really need the help of re-doing. However, I did read about a village in Sudan who has one spigot for hundreds, so in need of better sanitation. Thanks for the thoughtful post & poem, Karen, & best wishes for that water problem to be fixed!
Tanita, oh, I'm sorry to hear you were without water, too! These things really do remind us to be wise stewards. When I'm without water or power, I realize anew how easy it is to waste and squander those resources when they are plentiful.
Kathryn, yes, so many things that have prepared us for 2020! A few years ago we had a sewer line leading from our house to the street that collapsed. The ground was frozen solid and the final repairs couldn't be completed for two months. We try not to think about that period of time. I've scrubbed it from my brain. :) Definitely don't take plumbing and sanitation for granted anymore.
Linda, you mentioned something that we talked about last night -- so many people in the world (and in our country) who can't count on plentiful and clean drinking water. I truly do have so much to be thankful for.
I told my four-year-old granddaughter yesterday that we are made mostly of water and it blew her mind ... how life depends on it. How destructive too much of it can be. "Elegantly destroy," indeed - how chilling.
Yes, Emerson gets it right! Thanks for sharing this!
We lost power recently, and it was difficult (I feel so vulnerable, with my disabilities), anyhow: I was regaling my son with tales of my childhood, when losing power — in the middle of farmland — meant losing water too, as the well was controlled by an electric pump. He and I agreed that not having water (with my GI issues ...!!!) would be rather horrifying.
Ice storms definitely "elegantly destroy."
So sorry to hear the 2020 is continuing its hijinks for you and yours!
Karen, in times of distress we realize how significant water is in our lives. Thanks for the poem that I, too, have never read.
Post a Comment