Warm Springs

Water knows!
In scalding aquifers
            deep beneath warm pools
            that never froze,
The water knows.
As sure as it is life
            to faun and fern
            that crowd the marges
            where it flows,
The water knows.
Deep in its atomic trinity,
            it knows a crystal matrix.
Though warm,
            a simple wisdom
            comprehends a colder form.
And of eternity, this knowledge
            will suffice.
In an expanding universe
            of entropy,
Water knows ice.

And do We know?
Deep in the warm spring of our souls,
Rising from Creation's watery shoals -
            though all of our philosophies,
            our charities,
            and all the tepid waters
            of our tiny loves
            quench not the thirst for life
            so well as water can -
Is not Man -
            when all his Will has failed
            and turned to air -
Is not Man still aware -
            deep in his Being's natural knowing
            where eternal wisdom still is flowing -
Of crystal matrix in another tone,
            a form superior to flesh and bone -
A Trinity of finer atomy
            and finer still,
            a crystal city on a golden hill,
A knowing better far than water-knowing
            that knows beyond the chill?
Or is this just more vanity of Will?
Or just my watery flesh,
            now cooling,
            growing old,
And just my bones
            that sense
            the cold?