Take time to consider the wonder of water,
an invaluable gift to life here on earth.
So vital in nourishing fauna and flora
that hideous tragedies follow its dearth.
Water in nature, source of much beauty,
lakes, rivers, oceans, sparkling cascades;
yet out of control, its force shakes our
hubris
when it breaches broad dykes and protective
stockades.
Unrivalled by far in its cleansing
potential.
As versatile solvent, simply supreme.
It cools in the summer; it warms in the
winter,
by useful transitions from ice through to
steam.
Its atoms and molecules operate strangely
their properties ‘turn on the edge of a
knife’:*
so let’s wonder together, might Wisdom have
fashioned
the physics of water to undergird life?
*Opening paragraphs in New
Scientist article of 19th October 2011 titled ‘Water’s Quantum Weirdness makes Life
Possible’ read as follows.
’WATER’S life-giving properties exist on a knife-edge. It turns
out that life as we know it relies on a fortuitous, but incredibly delicate,
balance of quantum forces.
Water is one of the planet’s weirdest liquids, and many of its most bizarre features make it life-giving. For
example, its higher density as a liquid than as a solid means ice floats on
water, allowing fish to survive under partially frozen rivers and lakes. And
unlike many liquids, it takes a lot of heat to warm water up even a little, a
quality that allows mammals to regulate their body temperature.
The Wonder of Water was
written in December 2015/ January 2016 whilst reflecting on the difficulty of encouraging
many people to understand the complementarity of nature, science and faith.
The idea of science revealing the hidden aspects of the beautiful - and arousing questions of faith is also to be found at I Met With Beauty, Science and Faith
The idea of science revealing the hidden aspects of the beautiful - and arousing questions of faith is also to be found at I Met With Beauty, Science and Faith
There is a further poem about water on this blog ‘A Lament of Water’ (Click Here)
