Poem: Water for Life

Award Winning Poet Tariq Touré pays tribute to the impact of water projects.

For the dried mouths of newborns 

And the cops that wait ages 

To taste the moisture of rain 

As the clouds form to perform

And dance of hope above the heads 

Of entire communities thinned out 

From famine and drought and thirst

That earthquakes them awake

In nights that feel like eternity 

We work for water 

Water for life 

Water for now 

Water for forever

For families that have forgotten 

The taste of fresh mango and yam

 And the farms waiting With trembling hands

For the first field to be fed 

Hoping that beads of water 

Give birth to a new harvest

A harvest the halts the cries

Of hungry babies

A harvest that wraps its arms

Around the village so tight

They forget the hunger pangs 

Of yesterday’s reality 

You will find us working for water

Water for life 

Water for now 

Water for forever

For school children eager

To secure their future 

Against every odd placed before them

For young girls ready 

To ready another nation from their minds

Without the threat of disease 

Flowing from what they drink

Everyday gone without 

The worry of water 

With the wealth of a well

With the safety of sanitation

Is a day to celebrate 

This is why we believe in

Water for forever

Water for now 

Water for life