Diana Button - At the Watering Hole

Unity and connection are the revelations inherent in “At the Watering Hole”, a poem by spiritual poet Diana Button. Like the bubble popped in the poem’s epigraph, a reader may feel a similar release into oneness by the conclusion of the poem. “At the Watering Hole” arose after a retreat, touching on doubt, inclusion, and shared Self,” Diana informed The Dewdrop.

At the Watering Hole

“Thought is nothing but mental excitement.
Mind is only a bubble floating on the Self.
Break the bubble and you are the ocean.”
— Ramana Maharshi, Aham Sphurana, p. 62

Post-retreat;
a week of meeting—
with sangha, with Self,
with this Body-Mind.

Trillions of cells
are swimming,
somersaulting.

Feet still on Earth,
but galaxies from before—
I dare to say
the final
bubble of Doubt
has popped.
Gone.

I have been dropped
with a single plop
into the watering hole
Gangaji spoke of—

where we quench thirsts,
replenish trust
in ourselves,
in endless
bountifulness.

What a surprise
when Gangaji said:
I, too, come to the watering hole.
I, too, am drinking with you now.

How did my mind exclude you?
Was it so sure
this was reserved
for “us” thirsty ones,
for “us” gathered around—
not you?

But a mirage.
Of course.

Everyone—
each of “us”—can drink,
can swim
in the watering hole.
You too.

This is a non-exclusive
Pool of Life:

no boundary,
no separate drinker,
only
the
One
and Only
Ocean.

Diana Button

Diana Button is a poet and spiritual writer drawn to stillness, silence, and the moments that reveal the boundless within the ordinary. Born to a German and British family and shaped by a life across countries and cultures, her writing bridges inner and outer landscapes. Her recent book Wakes of Joy weaves poetic reflections from a path of deep inquiry and devotion. She curates The Poetry Glade (thepoetryglade.org), a sanctuary for emerging and unheard poetic voices, and is also the author of This Is Not About Poems (thisisnotaboutpoems.com), a collection exploring the layered nature of meaning and being. Find her on Instagram and Facebook: @thepoetryglade.