In Imtiaz Dharker's Poem "Blessing," water becomes a form of currency, a facilitator of community, and a blessing in the dry places of the world where it is scarce. The beginning of the poem describes what life is like without water. The skin cracks like a pod, and there is never enough water to fulfill people's needs.
In the next stanza, the speaker instructs the reader to imagine water in times of scarcity. The drip of it, a small splash, and a watery echo in a tin mug become the voice of a kindly god.
In the third stanza, the speaker recounts the occasional fortune of a municipal pipe bursting in an urban environment. Water is characterized as silver crashing to the ground and a flow found by a roar of tongues. The entire community comes out of their huts to congregate around the water. Men, women, and children gather the water with buckets and containers of different materials. These include brass, copper, aluminum, plastic, and the skin of their hands. Naked children scream and play in the "liquid sun," and the water is portrayed as a blessing that sings over their small bones.
