Lent: Drink

A walk in the woods never seems too bad when you're starting early enough. With the birds providing accompaniment to the rising sun and the air still heavy with dew, it's easy to feel the worst part isn't the thought of a few more stolen moments under the covers, but that annoying fellow nearby who keeps singing "Here Comes the Sun" and cheerfully mangling the words.

And you set out, the mist still hanging over the trail and snaking through the ferns, your spirits are high. Who can blame you for singing every Eagles song you can think of, from "Lyin' Eyes" and "Take It Easy" on down through "Take it to the Limit."

But after a while, silence sounds nice too. So you give your throat a rest, and you keep walking. You're still feeling fine, and the hike is easy; but it's a quiet time now. A more thoughtful time.

By noon your feet are feeling tired, your legs are a little sore, and though it's not time to stop, efforts to buoy the spirit with a few Beatles songs failed. For the life of you, you don't remember the second verse to "Yellow Submarine," can't think of how "Nowhere Man" starts and every time you start on one of the classic early Beatles songs, you start wondering what it means when Paul McCartney said he was the walrus.

When it turns two o'clock, you're sweating so profusely that your shirt sticks to you like a second skin. It's the heat of the day. You keep wiping the sweat from your eyes with you arm, but it doesn't make a difference. It just keeps coming in rivulets that leave you irritated and grouch at everyone you think of.

By three in the afternoon your head hurts, your throat is too sore to sing even if you wanted, and your entire body feels jostled about, You're walking,but it's on automatic. You're no longer sweating; you're just hot, and your skin feels too tight. Your eye is starting to twitch.

And then at four, someone hands you a glass of water. It is the most wonderful thing you have ever had,

You open your mouth and pour the water in. Half of it falls on your dried and dirty shirt, but you don't care. It tastes like standing outside in rainfall, and every drop that you drink explodes inside you like sunlight. The second glass is even better than the first, and the third is like the second. Your mind sharpens, your limbs surge with vitality, and at once you want to laugh, and dance and sing.

To the thirsty, a drink of water is like health to the dying. It's a new chapter in a favorite book, a gift of laughter to the lonely.

Drink your fill.

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