The Body of Water

By. Wendy Gist

“All praise be yours, my Lord, through Sister Water,

so useful, humble, precious and pure.” -

Francis of Assisi

At last, we bow, empty of bitterness.

Let it drift, cleanse, rinse.

Wash with peaceful caress--

Body of water.

Before us, water.

Behind us, water.

Within us, water.

All around us, the voice of life.

Hot springs warmth:

Living blood.

Anecdote.

Purification.

Lake deep:

Lucent, cool

Whispers

Glittering blue embrace.

River current:

Sacred, strong

Flow, flow, flowing

As it wants.

Sunlight

reflects off the ripples

Pouring over the rocks

Chiming like piano keys

Tapping, paradisiacal

Thrumming quite white with foam.

Time flies, a pool of

Memory.

Sister water, precious and clean.

Wendy Gist was raised in the forest of the Southwest on the outskirts of Flagstaff, Arizona. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Fourth River, New Plains Review, Oyez Review, Pif Magazine, Rio Grande Review, Soundings Review, St. Austin Review, Sundog Lit, The Chaffey Review, Tulane Review and other fine journals. Gist has worked as a professional contributing writer for many leading publications including Better Nutrition, Caribbean Travel and Life, eDiets, New Mexico Magazine, Pilates Style, Today’s Diet and Nutrition, and numerous others (national and international). She is a Pushcart Prize nominee and the author of the chapbook Moods of the Dream Fog (Finishing Line Press, 2016). She was named semifinalist for The Best Small Fictions, 2017.