Hydrated

Daily Note

Every day, a photograph, a poem. January — cold, often snowy, though most of it’s gone now. Look carefully here and see the ice fishermen; this year we had three recently fall through– all ok— but it’s been 50° F for days, so it seems they would have stopped.

As I looked at this picture and all the water present– in the sky, in the lake, a reservoir for irrigation, and in the snow pack. Water, we so need in the summer in this semi-arid area we call home and which is each year a summer of wildfires.

So many deny the change in climate, but I wonder if Earth will look like Mars one day. Scientists say Mars once looked like Earth– with running water– Did Mars Ever Look Like Earth?

I know the land is drying up and burning. NASA has a wonderful Climate Change site, including solutions. Take a look at these Before / After images:

• California Rice Drought
• Vanishing Great Salt Lake, Utah
• Diminishing Lake Powell, AZ
• Decline of Lake Powell, AZ
• Disappearing Lake Mead, NV
• Shrinking Lake Shasta, CA
• Parched Poyang Lake, China
• Declining Peyto Glacier, Banff National Park, Canada

So, it seems we should be doing something– or those great-great-great grandkids you wonder about, may not even be born. So very sad.

And so, looking at all that water in the photograph, I am grateful for today. And so, a poem.

Hydrated

Water, water everywhere:
Droplet tons floating above,
Bound waterway for dry lands,
Draped crystals frozen in time,
Still, a scant significance
for the semi-arid—
Yet, an essential:
Minimally hydrated
For which we give thanks.

Sheri Edwards
01.16.23 016.365.23
Poetry/Photography

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