How could I have thought
my gifts were mine to keep?
– for they were gifts, which means
they must be given …

And how could I have thought
the gift would come from me
in a straight channel, like a raindrop
down a window?

When clearly every gift
is what is given us
so we can bring it
to the neverending flow
like water in a river
that comes to it from everywhere  –
all the watershed calling it forth,
birthing it with every contribution
to celebrate its neverending source.

©Wendy Mulhern
January 24, 2021