Poem by Jim Culleny

it’s characters are interchangeable,
what’s essential is the underlying truth
regardless of cultural or theological details.”
 ……………………………………………. —Roshi Bob

Woman at the Well

She saw him there, there was no doubt
about the knowing look in his eye,
she’d come to draw water
because her bucket was dry

He asked her then for a taste
but she turned the question away.
She said, You know we’re different.
He said, That’s really ok.

And if you only knew who was talking to you
and what your father provides,
you’d turn to me for a drink of this water
that’s gonna fill up every valley
and flood the desert inside.

But, she said, you’ve no bucket
and this well is so deep.
He said, No, the water I give you
will wake the dead from their sleep.

Now why don’t you go get your husband
and bring him back here with you?
She said, I really don’t have one.
He said, we both know that’s true.

Though you’ve had many lovers
you’ve never been true to one,
then she fell back in wonder,
how he could know what she’d done.

And if you only knew who was talking to you
and what your father provides,
you’d turn to me for a drink of this water
that’s gonna fill up every valley
and flood the desert inside.

Then she ran to the city
and told the loneliest there,
there’s someone who knows me
and yet he still cares.

And if we only knew who was asking us to
believe that there’s nowhere to hide
we’d turn around for a drink of that water
that’s gonna fill up every valley
and flood the desert inside.

Yes, if we only knew who was asking us to
believe that there’s nowhere to hide,
we’d turn around for a drink of that water
that’s gonna fill up every valley
and flood the desert inside—

Song/poem Jim Culleny
link to song rendition:
Song link: Woman At The Well by Jim Culleny