Out of the darkness, a tunnel has been chiselled.
Painstaking and heart-rending, over the years, from the inside out.
Slowly gently, the water begins to trickle from the dam
Aiding in its turn the excavation; carrying
twigs and mud and general debris into the light,
then quicker and quicker it flows, and the workers
no longer use buckets to start the motion, until
the cascade tumbles out, crystal and fragile,
sparkling and glorious, and capable of drowning
all life for a hundred miles.
The workers stand around, congratulating mutual
achievement, and, remembering the pain of the years,
pray together that the flow will never stop.