Till taught by pain,
Men really know not what good water's worth;
If you had been in read more

Till taught by pain,
Men really know not what good water's worth;
If you had been in Turkey or in Spain,
Or with a famish'd boat's-crew had your berth,
Or in the desert heard the camel's bell,
You'd wish yourself where Truth is--in a well.

The sky broke like an egg into full sunset and the water caught fire.

The sky broke like an egg into full sunset and the water caught fire.

It is wretched business to be digging a well just as thirst is
mastering you.
[Lat., Miserum est read more

It is wretched business to be digging a well just as thirst is
mastering you.
[Lat., Miserum est opus,
Igitur demum fodere puteum, ubi sitis fauces tedet.]

Water which is too pure has no fish

Water which is too pure has no fish

Nothing in the world is more flexible and yielding than water. Yet when it attacks the firm and the strong, read more

Nothing in the world is more flexible and yielding than water. Yet when it attacks the firm and the strong, none can withstand it, because they have no way to change it. So the flexible overcome the adamant, the yielding overcome the forceful. Everyone knows this, but no one can do it.

A cup of cold Adam from the next purling stream.

A cup of cold Adam from the next purling stream.

Don't you realize that the sea is the home of water? All water is off on a journey unless it's read more

Don't you realize that the sea is the home of water? All water is off on a journey unless it's in the sea, and it's homesick, and bound to make its way home someday

O Lord! methought what pain it was to drown!
What dreadful noise of waters in mine ears!
read more

O Lord! methought what pain it was to drown!
What dreadful noise of waters in mine ears!
What sights of ugly death within mine eyes!
Methoughts I saw a thousand fearful wracks;
A thousand men that fishes gnawed upon;
Wedges of gold, great anchors, heaps of pearl,
Inestimable stones, unvalued jewels,
All scatt'red in the bottom of the sea:
Some lay in dead men's skulls, and in the holes
Where eyes did once inhabit, there were crept
(As 'twere in scorn of eyes) reflecting gems,
That wooed the slimy bottom of the deep
And mocked the dead bones that lay scatt'red by.

If you wish to drown, do not torture yourself with shallow water.

If you wish to drown, do not torture yourself with shallow water.