Words teach us to see waterfall, cliff and light.
Alarlhryna
Alarlhryna
But they are one thing, together.
Fossá
Even when they have no name!
Even with ice. Even in winter rain.
Svartifoss
Even with blood-red birches. Everything you add becomes the fall. It ceases to be separate.
Svartifoss
Bessastaðaá
Even sky can become a river.
Stekkalækur
Even underground rivers entering the sky from the mouth of the earth.
Hraunfossar
Even falls held within the Earth!
Dettifoss
They are all falls, not water, light, stone, air, water, grass or trees. They are always once thing together, all at once.
Systrafoss
This is a great mystery, not because it is unknown, but because it is vital.
Hengifoss
This teaching, and this view deep into human-earth relationships in Iceland, continually inspires me. The land is alive, as is the water, and any words that are hanging around start there first.