MAN:          In so short a time

I saw a future

Flow

Created

From the formless waters

Born

From the darkness

The way begins

All words are water

Flowing

 

GAIA:             From my innermost being

       I gave abundance!

My words flow from the mountain top

My words give succour to the land

My words are the waters of the sea

 

PRIEST:          The word was at the beginning

and unto the end.

 

MAN:             And behold

I came from the sea

Its words were my words

And the first of these was love.

The land welcomed me

The girl welcomed me

And she was my river

Words flowed from her depths

Onto my flesh

 

My eyes swam in her beauty

My mind spun in her eddies

My heart drowned.

 

O Pontus!

You have brought me here

O Gaia!

Bless our words

 

 

GAIA:             Mortal man!

Words are ordained:

Worship the river that sustains you

Care for its waters

Welcome its wisdom

 

MAN:             As a poet his words

As a tenor his aria

So my praise

Exalts this girl

       who brought me to the land

I worship her fluid form

       as I drift down

I praise her deepest depths

       as I sink below

 

PRIEST:          Use the words with care!

Your God is the God of formless waters

riding with the seabirds

       swimming with the fish

            gathering in the clouds

Your prayers are heard by him

though they be dropped in the river's water

      as you swim over her pools

            or float on her currents

Your hymns are words of love

to the girl you hold above all else,

      praising her beauty as you see her

            worshiping her form as you hold her

But they are heard by him

 

GAIA:             With Kybele

I rule the lands.

As you pass over me

As she runs through me

Blessings flow.

I shall remember

      the words.

 

GIRL:               Kybele! Meter Oreia!

Hear the waters flow.

They sing of my joy:

      As the ocean welcomes the stream

      As the flood grows with my waters

      He holds my very being

      I delight in his currents

            and take my pleasure in his oceans

      We have become one!

      As he holds me

      Embraces

      Loves

      Me

      Words

      Flow loud

      From my depths

      And shoal in his waters!

 

MAN:             United under one heaven

The moon and stars and sun shine on us:

Held together on the waves beneath the wind

Held fast in worship.

 

She came to me that day

      and as I held her, our joy poured

      forth to calm

      the winds

She came to me at night

      and as she held me, only the moon held sway:

      dawn was held at bay

She came to me by day

      and I held her close

And then it was as if

      that greater light which filled the sky

      flooded all earth with its radiant rule

And all the waters of the seas knew

      our passion and

      withdrew

      their dominion

 

GAIA:             Welcome!

As God has divided

the waters from the earth

So you are separated from the waters

       whose waves may yet crash around us

       whose floods may wash over us

You are one with my land.

As you have blessed it

       now its earth exalts you.

 

MAN:             I hold

Your promise

You see

Our future

      rooted in the land

Your bounty

      comes from its loam

We prosper!

 

PRIEST:          Oremus!

All my words are water

Flowing

You have lived the way

Flowing

Your lives are water

Flowing

On our land

 

We receive you!