Dance of the Fountain

For Dorothy Estes

The fountain is dry
Mud cakes its surfaces
Reminding me of a recent time
When the water flowed
    gaily,
        gently,
            furiously,
                freely.

Light and shadow dancing
    in joyous beauty
We gathered there
    young,
        old,
            furious,
                free.

Some of us pondered
On the nature of the water.
Most of us enjoyed its bounty
With little thought.
We all drank
    deeply,
        hungrily,
            lovingly,
                greedily.

We took and rarely gave;
She gave and rarely took.
We saw her as our
    friend,
        enemy,
            slaver,
                mother.

And with her we
    worked,
        cried,
            laughed,
                struggled.

But we never thought she’d go,
Abandon the fountain
Leave it
    lifeless,
        loveless,
            joyless,
                hopeless.

I weep.
And those tears raining down
Contain water from the fountain.
She lives in every cell of our bodies.
And through us she lives on.

— C.D. Walter
     August 16, 1999

Light

Lightning flashes

illuminating the room

through rain-smudged windows.

I awake

struggling to emerge

from the depth of slumber,

eyelids weighted, drug-heavy,

my body pulling me down,

earth to earth.

To the arms of Morpheus.

Light floods the room

warming my hand.

A breeze caresses my cheek.

I awake

Grave faces watch—

searching for signs of life.

A clock ticks,

loud in the silence,

marking the time passing,

so quickly,

so slowly,

as we all wait, and wait, and wait.

For the passing of my time.

Lightness of being.

The weight of my flesh dissipates

as the morning sun burns away the fog.

I awake

The mortal burden—

so heavy, yet unnoticed,

drops away,

my essence rising,

lighter than air.

Buoyant, joyful, free.

Light fills me

All the colors merged, yet separated

A prism of colors unimagined

I awake

Unbearable clarity of meaning

I am separate

I am one

I am in unity

love, light, God,

the universe, quarks, dark matter,

my eye, my heart, my soul,

us, them, you.

Eternity, mortality, time.

Enlightment.

I am Light.

—C. D. Walter

In memory of
Larry J. Palmer
1936-2003