A Price Too Deep

Roberta S. Dohse

September 6, 2026

Deep deep fissures 

Crack through the earth

All for lack of water

Like cracks in our lives

Leaving everything changed

Not what we had planned

Rivers dead one moment

Awash with flood the next

Running away with our dreams

Can we even make new visions 

Or are we now dry earth 

Partners in letting the rains wash away 

An impasse where we cannot use

The water but still must pay

Ever more and ever more

Industry gorging on water but we fools 

Seek even more –what will be the cost

For those few jobs more

Don’t plan, don’t look far ahead  

Kick the can down the road 

Instead, again and again

Rising costs will bleed us dry

But only if enough water remains

To allow the blood to flow

Will there even be enough

To let us cry?

Something has gone askew.

Roberta Shellum Dohse hails primarily from California. After living on a farm in northern Minnesota and in Oregon, she moved to Texas in 1980, attended law school, and has practiced law in Corpus Christi since 1997. Formerly a flight instructor and a college professor, she has always loved to write.