The city answered from a distant desk"The water here is private, you are pressed""The duty falls upon the ones who own""Upon the men who built and left the stone""The network comes in some far year" it said"Two more winters, maybe, lie ahead""Until then the burden stays with you""A thing the silent engine never knew"

Oh, the water's answer fell like rain

Clear and cold and heavy with the strain

Someone asked and someone had to know

And the answer told them where the debt would go

The water's answer, still running through the years