A Drink of Water
A Drink of Water - meaning Summary
Memory Held in Water
The poem remembers a village woman who came each morning to fetch water, and turns that ordinary ritual into a quiet meditation on memory, gratitude, and inheritance. The speaker notices her sounds, gestures, and the water she leaves in the house, then returns to it as an adult. Her cup's instruction to Remember the Giver
becomes a reminder of dependence on others and of the past that survives in daily habits.
She came every morning to draw water Like an old bat staggering up the field: The pump’s whooping cough, the bucket’s clatter And slow diminuendo as it filled, Announced her. I recall Her grey apron, the pocked white enamel Of the brimming bucket, and the treble, Creak of her voice like the pump’s handle. Nights when a full moon lifted past her gable It fell back through her window and would lie Into the water set out on the table. Where I have dipped to drink again, to be Faithful to be the admonishment on her cup, Remember the Giver, fading off the lip.
Published: 1979
Feel free to be first to leave comment.