# Life Thirst: L’Chaim [Poem by Mom]
Author: Dwight Gingrich
Author URL: https://dwightgingrich.com/author/dwight-gingrich
Published: 2015-03-19
Category: By Elaine Gingrich
Category URL: https://dwightgingrich.com/category/by-elaine-gingrich
Meta Title: Life Thirst: L'Chaim | Dwight Gingrich Online
Meta Description: Spring is almost here, bursting with new life and old longings, and I have a poem to match the season. Are you thirsty? Then read on...
Tags: spring, crucifixion, life, Lord's Supper, Fiddler on the Roof, blood, Living Water, thirst, toast
Tag URLs: spring (https://dwightgingrich.com/tag/spring), crucifixion (https://dwightgingrich.com/tag/crucifixion), life (https://dwightgingrich.com/tag/life), Lord's Supper (https://dwightgingrich.com/tag/lords-supper), Fiddler on the Roof (https://dwightgingrich.com/tag/fiddler-on-the-roof), blood (https://dwightgingrich.com/tag/blood), Living Water (https://dwightgingrich.com/tag/living-water), thirst (https://dwightgingrich.com/tag/thirst), toast (https://dwightgingrich.com/tag/toast)
URL: https://dwightgingrich.com/life-thirst-lchaim

_Spring is almost here, bursting with new life and old longings, and I have a poem to match the season. Are you thirsty? Then read on…_

_(See [here](http://dwightgingrich.com/two-trees/) for an introduction to this monthly series from Mom.)_

_I think this poem will sing most powerfully if takes your ears by ambush. So, first the poem, then some reflections from Mom._

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**LIFE THIRST: L’CHAIM**

How thirsty you are in the spring,

Earth with your thousand mouths.

Everywhere orifices open

Gaping for trickle,

Stream and torrent.

“A drink please,” you whisper,

“Please, more water, please.”

Mounds of snow you demolish,

Water that travels for miles to slake your thirst.

Cracked skin softens to mud,

Leaves compost, soil moistens,

Thirsty for more, for the future, for life.

Woodlands and roadsides chorus

With the trickle,

Rush,

Thunder of running water,

Gulping faster,

Gasping for breath,

Eyes closed,

All mouth,

Lifting your glass–“To life! To life!”

How thirsty you are in the spring,

Earth with your millions of mouths,

Recalling a dry, dusty hill

In a sun-scorched Judean town

Where the thirst of a thousand generations

Whispering for water–“Please, a drink.”–

Culminated in one agonizing cry

From One lifted up–“I thirst!”

And the parched world drank

As His blood trickled,

Gushed,

Flowed–

A strange, salty drink to satisfy the thirst of the millennia!

Everywhere you hold high

Crystal goblet, plastic tumbler,

Tin cup,

Gasping for life,

Gulping faster,

All mouth,

Belly overflowing with Living Water.

Lifting your glass to Him who calls–“To life! To life!”

–Elaine Gingrich, March 2004

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[![Life Thirst - Spring Runoff](https://prod.superblogcdn.com/site_cuid_cltmr6s080011pelc74knn9b3/images/life-thirst-spring-runoff-1721353256927-compressed.jpg)](https://prod.superblogcdn.com/site_cuid_cltmr6s080011pelc74knn9b3/images/life-thirst-spring-runoff-1721353256927-compressed.jpg)

* * *

**Reflections from Mom**

My husband and I raised our four children in Georgian Bay country in Ontario, where the rocks, lakes and trees cry out God’s grandeur. This poem began with a spring walk, listening to the exuberant sounds of rushing water. I can still see the icy rock cuts with rivulets of water running down into the gurgling ditches on Blue Lake Road. The thirsty earth drinking in new life triggered the image of celebrating Jews in _Fiddler on the Roof_, thirsty for life and hope, lifting their glasses in the Hebrew toast “L’chaim!”–“To life!” The whole earth is toasting life in springtime. An even deeper thirst draws us to lift our glass to Christ who lifted His voice and then His dying body in the ultimate celebration of life. What a price He paid to give us the water of life! We honour Him today when we drink the cup of communion, remembering His blood that flowed one spring day about 2000 years ago.

* * *

_If you enjoyed this poem, [**leave a comment here for Mom**](http://dwightgingrich.com/life-thirst-lchaim/#respond), or send her an email at_

_[![MomsEmailAddressImage.php](https://prod.superblogcdn.com/site_cuid_cltmr6s080011pelc74knn9b3/images/momsemailaddressimage-1721353257609-compressed.png)](https://prod.superblogcdn.com/site_cuid_cltmr6s080011pelc74knn9b3/images/momsemailaddressimage-1721353257609-compressed.png)_

_.  Thanks!_

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Photo Credit: [D-A-O](https://www.flickr.com/photos/73112564@N00/8606856771/) via [Compfight](http://compfight.com) [cc](https://www.flickr.com/help/general/#147)


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