Old Water

The earth has water older than the sun, scientists say. I’ll never see rain the same way again, or hear it tap on the roof at 4:00 a.m. and not wonder what other skies it has fallen from, what other oceans it once also returned to as if going home.

Scientists say they’re more certain than ever that planets throughout the cosmos harbor this resident alien. And remembering how many times the eye has evolved on Earth alone, I listen to the drumming on the roof and imagine

that someday, sure as rain, we’ll meet the watery gaze of beings born under distant stars. Maybe we’ll see enough of ourselves to realize then that loneliness has no cure—that we are all heirs to drifting, interstellar ice. Maybe we’ll offer them a drink. Maybe we’ll weep.