WATER

Egypt’s water - the first we knew -

Turned to blood

At the twirl of a staff.

Glad were we when the Red Sea’s water

Left the Egyptian shore

Irretrievably cut off.

Bitter were we till Marah’s drink

Was transformed for us

By cast wood.

Fertility greeted us,

Seventy palm trees,

At the twelve springs of Elim.

We murmured, but it was the Rock

Which was smitten; the Rock

Which gave water.

And the Rock was willing

To follow; to serve water

At the lawgiver’s request.

After our wandering years

At last we could wield staves

To dig the well.

The last water, Jordan, dashed

Hopes; till the ark

Championed our passage.

We have been brought to a good land,

A land of waterbrooks, of springs,

And of deep waters,

That gush forth in the valleys and hills.