a water paradox--By Frances Simwinga--Malawi

a water paradox

Time and again I like to sip
a little of you, feel you drip down
my throat, leaving a stain on my lip,
that way my life you humbly sustain.

You are seen by many as simple
and in sync with life when fairly ample,
but the blight you possess when in excess,
or when you are scarce scant and erratic,
has unveiled the animosity in you.

You have hailed down untold grief
on my kids, my wife and my life;
my garden wilting at your absence,
or being swept away at your abundance,
sparing no elite, no destitute,
yet time and again I still need you closer.

Frances Simwinga is a budding poet. He has discovered healing in poetry. He happens to be biased towards slam poetry but greatly enjoys the written word too. This poem was inspired by the floods that have caused havoc to human life recently in the southern parts of the Malawi.