It takes a thousand years for water to
complete its journey around the globe
which means that the snow in your backyard was
once an ocean, and what the first humans touched
now streams in rivulets down mountain cheeks,
now courses through your bloodstream like a song
echoed from long ago, now etches memories of
ancestral sorrow in your throat. This stream I wash
my feet in is the same water my great great great
someone carried from a spring a mile away.
They walked barefoot against the rocky earth,
pressed forward seeking promise, held their
troubles like prayers spilled into a flowing river.
This river up and vapored into the air like a plea
in search of our parched desperation, seeped into
the ground like some fresh hope. All we are is a
single wet breath irrigated from one generation to
the next. One chorus waving to each other from
the invisible ledge between a thousand years,
forever circling back home.
—
Moudi Sbeity is a first-generation immigrant from Lebanon dedicating their time and passion to collectively building a more possible world. They are currently a graduate student at Naropa University in the Mindfulness Based Transpersonal Counseling program. Prior to attending Naropa, Moudi co-owned and operated a Lebanese restaurant in Salt Lake City, which also served as a safe space for the queer community. Moudi was a plaintiff in Kitchen v. Herbert, the landmark case that brought marriage equality to Utah and the 10th circuit states in 2014. As a person who grew up stuttering, Moudi is passionate about writing and poetry as transpersonal practices in self-expression and relational healing, and finds immense joy in sharing space with others on the page.
