Journal 1

Water Equals Life

                “A Drop of Water” by Caroline Way was a poem about how water can come from all different places. Way wants us to imagine how we have used water all the way back from the creation of the earth to giving us human’s life. “Sogen’s One Drop of Water” by Shodo Harada Roshi was a story about how water has been taught to be loved and cared for from the sacred water of Sogenji. A drop of water can come from a lot of different places. In both reading a drop of water is more than just water. The reading point out that we take water for granted and how special water really is. In “Still Water Meditation” they want you imagine a drop of water in the palm of your hand. The metaphor of “a drop of water” developed in the poem by starting out as a drop of water in your palm, but turns out that drop of water has a background of its own. The Poem addresses the theme of water as life by giving us an example, “through the hearts of whales in blood and lain in an eagles egg.”(10) This shows how water brings life into us and how water is essential for living. Caroline Way wants the reader to imagine the history of the drop of water in your hand. She gives the water a path of life, for example, “has risen from the sea in countless ages,” “and the deep unfathomable depths,” “and lain in an eagle’s egg,” “and dripped from the wounds of the dying.”(9-10) She traces the path of water coming from a variety of places; from millions of years ago, to bring life into animals, and the last drop before deaf. Way’s poem and “Sogen’s One Drop of Water” have similar meaning to a drop of water. In “Sogen’s One Drop of Water” Gisan Zenrai Zenji was upset when he saw Giboku dump out drops of water on the ground. Zenji explained how “If you take it outside and put it on some plants, then the plants will be given life, and the water will also be given life. If you give it to the cucumbers in the garden, the cucumbers will be helped and the water will be satisfied too!”(49)  In “A Drop of Water” Way describes the drop off water in your hand to have a history of its own. Both passages show great feelings for water, and they exemplify how we take for granted the water that we have.  The imagery that is clear in the poem is one drop of water. This furthers the spiritual nature of water by giving us a picture of how one drop of water can have a history of its own, and how it brings life into the world.