SPRING WATER

the natural spring gushing froth from a pipe 
encased in rock
roosevelt park, edison township, n.j. 1958 
the surrounding rock richly garbed with moss

we would go there every week to get water 
pure water
for my mother who was then dying of cancer 
this pure water was all that she could drink 
another day of making her comfortable given 
her distressing situation

thank goddess the pagan In me would say 
that there is natural bounty from 
such humble sources this spring
one of the several beginnings of what downstream 
would become a river of size

my mother didn't survive for very long 
as fate would dictate her situation was hopeless 
but the spring is still there providing its 
benefits to the public day and night 
this spring
part of an ecosystem in the great chain of being....