MELD:
What would the water say?
If she could see us right now.

Heather Christie:
I am with you!
I am in every tear you cry, carrying you through your grief and sadness.
I shed a part of myself through the corners of your eyes, to remind you I stand with you.
I know that each wave crests JUST before it reaches the shore, because I am the wave AND the refuge.
These are the words of the water.

Maureen Murphy:
She would tell me to carry gratitude like the water-bearer carries her jar.
Gathering it faithfully each day, and bathing in it to lift my spirit when I am weak
She would tell me to give thanks for this precious body I call home
For the lips through which she nourishes
For our hips through which life flourishes

Shira Elias:
And in times when hope is hard to find...
She would tell me to plant a garden,
and water each seed diligently every day.
With each bud that sprouts from the ground,
She would whisper the words:
Where there is life there is hope,
Where there is hope, there is life.
These are the words of the water.

Alanna Royale:
What would the water say in the face of death?
Would she run through the veins of the dying,
Giving life to each cell?
Would she lift the faces of the mourning
Leaving traces of hope shimmering behind her like water in the sun.
A drip, flowing effortlessly from the hands to the heart, to the feet.
Stay rooted she would say.
You are healing.

Amber Lily:
Or would she know, when it is too late?
In these moments, she mourns with us.
Hovering like a rain cloud, filling up slowly with our pain, she carries it for us.
In a sweet release she lets the rain fall gracefully for miles,
so that the world may share in a moment of silence with us.
Your pain is mine, and mine is yours, she cries.
These are the words of the water.

Katie Buxton:
Her storms call to us, rich and roaring with passion
Begging us to show her what we are made of.

Marya Stark:
She reminds us that every ship swallowed into the heart of the sea
Is now one of her vessels.
A piece of an intricate body, sculpted by gods will.
But the souls that she saves,
And gives back to the land,
Shipwrecked and heartbroken- They carry her truth away from the shore.

Katie Buxton:
With each step, her power echoes -
Entering through doors in large cities, rolling down busy highways,
Seeping into valleys and soaring over mountain tops.
Spreading the terrifying beauty of her power across the world.
But I do not want to be feared, she would say. Only respected.
These are the words of the water.

JESS NOLAN:
Water is resistance.
She says, use me for yourself and for those around you.
She says, wake up - there is a war in your backyard.
Inside fences and cages, there lie souls who yearn for nourishment.
To drink without fear of lead.
To swim without thought of pollution.
To imbibe the natural gifts from mother earth, free from intervention.
Water is resistance.
She says, use me for yourself and for those around you,
For reconnection.
These are the words of the water.

MELD:
Within each molecule, centuries of her existence are imprinted.
And if you listen to her song,
You will hear the story of every one of us.

PHANTOM VANITY:
It is a song of life, of death, of all the mistakes and triumphs of humanity.
It is the song of the water protectors, the song of the buffalo, the bottle-nose dolphin, the red-tailed hawk. It is the cry of man.
Forever connecting sky to land, and land to ocean.
In her very DNA, she carries us.
And we carry her, in ours.

MELD:
And THIS is how we come to know each other before we meet.
Flowing from ocean, to river, to stream,
To the cups in our very hands.
We drink each other.
We drink in the oneness of all things.
And we listen to her song.
We listen to the water
The words of the water.
And if you listen closely you can hear her laughing, crying, praying, singing.
These are the words of the water.