Water’s Way

It takes 500 years for the ocean’s waters to complete one trip around the earth. National Geographic Society

The prodigal returned, a bride running late, it races from the street, climbs the plumbing in the walls to the bathroom tap, then halts.

Water is weather. Pulled from swells out where cyclones make the only news, its vapor ladders latitudes to the pole, refreshes bergy bits, brash ice, floes —

or crosses longitudes to fall as shoures soote upon us all, then drain away to aquifer. Weather is God’s will writ small.

Water is extended metaphor: Its antecedent, alchemic character commonly denominates all things, in compound or by temperature.

4 a.m. Fill the glass. Let the molecule from Christ stand again in human state even as it quenches thirst.

—John Barr

John Barr’s poems have been published in six books, four fine press editions, and many magazines, including The New York Times, Poetry, and others. John was also the Inaugural President of the Poetry Foundation. His newest book, The Boxer of Quirinal, was published by Red Hen Press in June 2023. You can view more of his work at johnbarrpoetry.com and on Instagram (@johnbarrpoetry). Buy the book.