Water

Healing, giving droplets from the air.
Glistening along the morning land.
Caressing with warm foam feet bare
That walk the beach, crossing wet sand.
Falling from the sky in flurries white,
Enfolding like blankets the cold ground.
Cleansing, soothing streams so warm and light,
Washing dirt away; fatigue is drowned.
     Taken cold when heat is worst
     A long drink will quench the thirst.

Thrashing, tossing ships lost in a storm.
Crashing hard on dwellings near the sea.
Ripping down as ice in dagger form,
Tearing houses down as if in glee.
Flooding, sweeping torrents scour Earth,
Pulling everything in their dark wake.
To those ignoring fleet river's worth,
Sucks the breath from lungs and life it takes.
     Water's most benign, although
     It's also a grudging foe.