This is a miracle tortoise. I’m not exaggerating: it survived THIRTY YEARS in a locked storeroom. With no water (so far as anyone could tell), and no ‘real’ food.

Given, a vet told the family (who were totally blown away – who wouldn’t be??) that red-footed tortoises can go up to 3 years w/out eating. But THIRTY?

What did she do for those 30 years, locked away in the room of broken junk? How did she survive?

And of course, being a poet — always seeing metaphors & signs & omens & portents — I thought: what feeds me? What can I survive without? And what is essential? Because I’m thinking water is pretty darn critical, even for a tortoise (the landlubber member of the turtle family). But so is love. And for me, I need beauty almost as much as bread.

So here’s my question for you (one I’m still considering): what do you need — what must you have — to live? What is your emotional/ spiritual water? Think about it…. I am.