The land I caretake borders a mountain spring brook on Pleasant Mountain, a local gem. One hot summer day I rock hopped up the brook to its source. Two and a half hours later, I came upon its humble origin—a still, clear bottomless pool.

It’s strange to contemplate where all this water comes from. From this quiet beginning, the water tumbles and spills down mountainside, over granite sleuths, past bright green moss and ferns, and around glacial boulders left behind from an earlier time.

Deep beneath earth’s surface lie fissures in the bedrock, creating water veins pouring up and out to the surfaces. Most amazing. And where does it originate from there?? Rain clouds, I suppose, recycling storms past that find their way back to the water table.

I watch as the water spills out of the spring, gathering momentum and strength as it flows down the mountain to the lower elevations, through wetlands, around beaver dams, through fields, descending all the way down to Kezar Pond. From here it slowly finds its way to the ocean at the mouth of the Saco River, traversing through 20 Maine towns along the way. Astonishing—the sea connected to the mountain by a quiet mountain brook. I fathom what is connected to the sea.

The native peoples of these lands used the waterways much like we use the Maine Turnpike or Route 117 to travel from one place to another for gatherings, sharing, exchanging ideas and goods. The paddling routes connected all the Abenaki peoples to those in distant lands of Western New York, Quebec and beyond.
I gulp down cool, pure water from a glass jug—water sourced from the depths of this place I dwell. It brings me life. It brings all life.

Today I paddled on Kezar Pond, suspended, held by the surface tension that appeared to be nothing less than a mirror. Reflections of swamp maple, alder, paddler, painted turtles and a young bald eagle perched on a dead limb. I notice water’s path, always clear, smooth, powerful, and steady. In the pools and ponds, it is also reflective. If I look closely, I see myself in it.

All of us receiving water as it gives over and over in all of its generosity.

As I write, I can hear the mountain brook flowing down towards the distant pond, refilling her banks as she carries on to the ocean again and again; cycling from cloud to rain to spring to garden to trees to plants to flowers to the water coursing through my veins; the same water that courses through yours. Most amazing…

Jen Deraspe, is the founder of Nurture Through Nature, an eco-retreat center in Denmark, Maine. Jen is a certified yoga instructor, a licensed Maine guide, and a certified coach and facilitator of The Work of Byron Katie. She has been leading holistic nature retreats since 1999. www.ntnretreats.com, (207) 452-2929.