For Casco Bay, for Us
Featured Image: Casco Bay, Maine © Kevin Morris & Friends of Casco Bay
By Gary Lawless
rising in the mountains, the water,
finding its way
from granite to the bay
we are water
and we want to flow
flow through our lives
here a forest, here
a town, flowing, down –
here are rocks, falls –
we fall, at the end,
at the mouth
into a larger body,
our body, body of
water, to become
to become more than we are –
where the future flows
into the sea,
and all that you see
we are water
we are patterns in water,
currents, eddies, we
pool and move
on, we flow –
how many rivers flow
into the bay
how many streams
into the rivers
where does the rain go
where does the wind go
bays to the ocean
how much moonlight
touches the water
how many fish
find their way home
we are water
and we want to flow –
in beauty, in light,
in whatever weather
the rocks are singing
as water passes over
it is high tide
and our hearts are full
it is low tide
and we are waiting
we have been waiting for you
for thousands of years
we are water
the water is the bay
the wind is the bay
the fish, the birds, the plants,
we are the bay
what happens to water
happens to us
we are water
and we want to flow, saying
this is our body and
we are home
we rise as water rises
we fall as water falls
we are water
we are the bay
we are water
we are the bay
___________________
Gary Lawless is a poet, bioregional advocate, and co-founder of Gulf of Maine Books, in Brunswick Maine.
He and his wife Beth Leonard care-take the old farm of Henry Beston & Elizabeth Coatsworth (both acclaimed authors of the mid-20th century), near Damariscotta Lake.
Gary’s score of poetry collections includes Poems for the Wild Earth and Caribou Planet. His new book of poems is How the Stones Came to Venice, and his poetry blog.
