ARTS’ WEEK with Grade 9Monday 8th 2009

Water an elementalWater a fundamentalBuilding block of lifeWater of LifeWater of Death

Water in all religionsWater in all living thingsWater in all countriesWater also used for barter

No life without waterNo rife with waterNo respect for waterWillful neglect of water

Water, for cookingWater, for cleaningWater, for drinkingWater, for livingWater, for dying

Water is the sameIn all languagesWater is the sameTo all living beings

Anand Dixit

When we think of water we think of the giver of life for without water there is no life. We think of its life giving properties, its cleansing properties and its coolness. Without water the earth cannot produce its bounty.

In ancient times water was often personified as a river-god with a flowing urn or as Poseidon or Neptune with his trident, accompanied by dolphins and hippocampi.

Once in his life a man ought to concentrate his mind uponthe remembered earth, I believe. He ought to give himself upto a particular landscape in his experience, to look at it fromas many angles as he can, to wonder about it, to dwell uponit.He ought to imagine that he touches it with his hands atevery season and listens to the sounds that are made uponit. He ought to imagine the creatures there and all the faintestmotions of the wind. He ought to recollect the glare of noon andall the colors of the dawn and dusk.For we are held by more than the force of gravity to the earth.It is the entity from which we are sprung, and that into whichwe are dissolved in time. The blood of the whole human raceis invested in it. We are moored there, rooted as surely, asdeeply as are the ancient redwoods and bristlecones

UP with the sun, the breeze arose,Across the talking corn she goes,And smooth she rustles far and wideThrough all the voiceful countryside.

Through all the land her tale she tells;She spins, she tosses, she compelsThe kites, the clouds, the windmill sailsAnd all the trees in all the dales.

God calls us, and the day preparesWith nimble, gay and gracious airs:And from Penzance to MaidenheadThe roads last night He watered.

God calls us from inglorious ease,Forth and to travel with the breezeWhile, swift and singing, smooth and strongShe gallops by the fields along.

Emily Dickinson

Fire and Ice 

  Some say the world will end

in fire,Some say in ice.From what I've tasted of desireI hold with those who favor fire.But if it had to perish twice,I think I know enough of hateTo say that for destruction iceIs also greatAnd would suffice.

Robert Frost