From Water

After Li-Young Lee

From water comes
more water
we drink
the edge of the sky
past the bend in the road
black clouds thickening air.

From elbow to necks
from our hands clutching at newness
coming down, sweetness
water clinging to ankles
coming down as birds.

Oh, to spin with you in this storm
to shiver against the air, to paint
not only the shade but the silver
not only the skin but the blood, to hold
the floods in our hands, grip it
to never let go.

There are days we live
as if silence were nowhere
color dripping from every branch
staining wet pigment the concrete
under heel, from toe
to toe, wing to wing,
drop to perfect drop.