Raging Thirst

One summer's day I went to play with friends, down by the Ribble -

it hadn't rained for 40 days, the stream was just a dribble.

We jumped in muddy puddles, and played games on my phone,

and . . . when I looked up next I found that we were not alone!

Behind a fence, right next to us, stood an enormous bull -

his horns were big, his mouth was dry, his teeth looked very full.

I panicked as I pictured being crushed by all his weight . . .

my friend was much more sensible - and pointed to the gate.

"That should stop him, even though he weighs a hundred stone!

Don't be scared, there's more to him than muscle, mass and bone.

He might look fierce but teacher says two thirds of him is water."

That made me stop . . . and start to ask what else her teacher taught her?

So I asked my friend to tell me how much water's in the world?

"Millions of trillions - but only 1% is pure"

Then tell me what would happen if our planet sprang a leak?

"We'd all be thirsty pretty fast and dead within a week!"

I scratched my head and asked my friend to tell me why it is

if water is so special, no-one seems to give a fig?

Why don't we all save water, cut down on what we use,

treat it like a precious jewel we care for - not abuse?

Turn off taps while brushing teeth, stop that drip, drip, drip,

when water's flowing in the sink, why don't we stop to think?

My friend looked sad, and what she said was total double Dutch:

'We never notice water because there's just so much!

I bet we'd all take notice if all our taps ran dry"

What would we do? I asked her, how would we all get by?

"Let's play a game of make believe and think through possibilities,

imagine that we have a thirst . . . and we're Tiwi Aborigines.

First we find a juicy frog and lift him to our lips . . ."

I shook my head in disbelief - these were not helpful tips!

"Then, we squeeze the water from the frog - that's how they get a drink!"

I turned back to the raging bull . . . that really made me think!