Yesterday morning it was so cold
that a little waterfall along my walk
had frozen over.
It was lovely gleaming there
all silvery in the sunlight.
But then I noticed that
under the frozen surface
the waters were moving.
Soon they would wear through the surface
they would flow even more freely
and then the whole thing would go.
I thought of stories I had heard
of the last ice age
and the release of Lake Missoula:
Many thousands of years ago
in what is now Montana
there was a giant ice dam.
It held back more fresh water
than has ever been gathered
anywhere in our world.
Under the dam’s surface
waters were moving
and periodically,
the dam would melt.
The water spilled out
in floods so colossal
they transformed the landscape
all the way to the ocean.
Under the surface
the waters are moving
And then I thought
of the last stage of pregnancy
and how it feels like the discomfort
will never end.
But then the waters break
and everything changes:
new life is ushered in
on a flood.
Under the surface
the waters are moving
And then I thought of now
and how everything has seemed frozen
in the very same shape
for so long.
But under the surface
the waters are moving
and the children are coming loose:
the children are coming loose
and the women are coming loose
and the whole thing could go
at any moment.
Under the surface
the waters are moving
it’s time to transform the landscape
it’s time to bring a new world
to birth.