The well runs dry on a family's land
and though the eldest daughter dutifully
fills the wooden bucket with
fresh water from the stream
each morning and each evening
at dusk
she cannot save her family
from the deprivation. Watches
as their parched lips fall into
thin straight lines. Certainly they did
not expect her to
restore the water supply but they
are surprised at the ease with which
they secretly blame her for their disappointments.
The day's activities occupy
enough time to sometimes
forget that water will be rationed
at evening meal
and breakfast
and wash time. And
tea, now a luxury, is served no more.
The daughter --
she dreams
of only one year
ago when the loveliness of laughter
was heard as a thing in and of itself
rather than an eerie descant
atop loud silence.
She has been rudely waken from
dreams of planting
bountiful harvests in fertile earth
bestowed on her,
looks now upon
an arid parcel of barren land
that will never be home again.
and though the eldest daughter dutifully
fills the wooden bucket with
fresh water from the stream
each morning and each evening
at dusk
she cannot save her family
from the deprivation. Watches
as their parched lips fall into
thin straight lines. Certainly they did
not expect her to
restore the water supply but they
are surprised at the ease with which
they secretly blame her for their disappointments.
The day's activities occupy
enough time to sometimes
forget that water will be rationed
at evening meal
and breakfast
and wash time. And
tea, now a luxury, is served no more.
The daughter --
she dreams
of only one year
ago when the loveliness of laughter
was heard as a thing in and of itself
rather than an eerie descant
atop loud silence.
She has been rudely waken from
dreams of planting
bountiful harvests in fertile earth
bestowed on her,
looks now upon
an arid parcel of barren land
that will never be home again.