Alice Walker

9 February 1944 - / Eatonton Georgia

The Ways Of Water

With your unknown
to me
Odd magic
You came
To me:
Your truck
Backfiring
As if sending
Out
Rockets
To the
Stars

You came
In
So gracefully
Rockets
Silenced
Behind you &
Set
To work
As if nothing
Brought you
Greater
Joy.

I did not see Life was
About to change, as it does,
When odd magic appears:
There was
No music
Yet.

Chatting
About relationships, our freedom
From same,
Which we
So defended;
About water, faucet
Drips;
The gifts
Of growing older;
You set to work
& I, standing above you
As you lay on
Your back
Studied
Your feet:
Well cared for
In ocean blue
Sandals
Made of tough
Plastic.

Buddies,
We said, we agreed
That's what we
Needed.
How about going out
Together as buddies
For a night of music
& dance? My first
Indication
That song
Had a place
In
Your world.

Two years later
The leak
In my kitchen
Sink
Remains
Fixed
As well as
The leak
I never mentioned
In my spirit.

Early and late
We savor
The music
That comes
From
Your horn
The Golden Phoenix
That travels
With us
Everywhere

Your sound
Your love of Miles & Bird
& Wynton
Making
Friends of strangers
Around
The globe.

In Poor
Countries
Where
The grass
Has died
& the ponies
& oxen
Also
& the people
Have nothing
To bath in
Or to drink
&
Yet are soothed
By your cool
& liquid
Music, which
You pour over them
So freely,
I want to tell them:
Yes, he is also
A water man.

Yes, he also knows
The ways
Of water.

But they know this.
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