The Florida Springs Poem by Barry Middleton

water, cold, crystal, emerald
no words, no photograph
can capture what these are

here it is so easy to imagine
the first wiggly embryo thing
arguing with algae for status

these waters flowed beneath
pterodactyl before birds sang
before nature rethought itself

these waters were haunts
of mastodons and saber-tooth
no human footprint marred

then came the Paleo-Indian
the thinker and tool maker
the hunter and the builder

a somewhat belated start
brings me a mere forty years
wandering in a Florida dream

this is where I chose to seek
my baptism and my forgiveness
an eternal youth, magical waters

and I did find it here, reposed
giant oaks watched and waved
gray moss, green water, a drink
to quench my soul's last thirst