Watershed
by Laura Halfvarson Jump

Brown water, shadow to the sea.
In silence are you losing ancient purity.
Your vanished crystal pride and wooded sentry shores,
No longer yours.
Trying to wash away the wheel, the metal roar,
Share peace no more.

Haunting still the last retreats,
The whisper of eagles.
A memory blown across a vast land,
The Heartland.

Blue water, singing with the sky.
Raise litanies above your brother’s failing dreams.
Be partner to the wilderness, the soul your shore;
This glory yours.
Let the walkers and the poets rest beside your face,
Restoring grace.

Leaping to their destiny
The coursing of salmon.
The spawn of the dwellers in a rich land,
The Birthland.

Salt water, endless mystery.
The open-hearted treasure tracings, foundling shells,
While harder seed among us bleed the epic breast.
Let love not rest.
Creation beckons on; we honor or betray
The cradle’s sway.

Soaring high, the simple free,
The song of the sea gulls.
The spirit of a planet graced with living land;
Our Homeland.

Author's Note: ©2009 copyright by Laura H. Jump
I wrote the poem “Watershed” in 1976, intending that someday I would set it to music, an intention which I am now fulfilling. For me, it represents a deep love I have always felt for the Earth. There is a felt sense of its fragility and a sense of both love and loss, but along with that, the faith that something larger is at work – the Spirit of Life, if you will – within us, around us and through us.
    Laura Jump currently lives in Hendersonville with her husband, Bob. She works as office manager of the UU Fellowship of Hendersonville, gardens, and persists in fleshing out musical ideas.