You bend down to the water fountain and the bending is the posture of thirst. The water fountain requires you to bow your head and the bowing of your head is the supplication and the supplication is to the city because the city provides the water. The water comes from a pipe and the pipe comes from a reservoir and the reservoir comes from a river and the river comes from the rain and the rain comes from the sky and the sky is free but the pipe costs money and the money is the taxes and the taxes are the social contract and the social contract is the water fountain. You drink and you do not pay and the not paying is the gift. The city gives you water for free because the city decided a long time ago that thirst is not a crime.

The segregated water fountain in the American South had two spigots and the two spigots were the same water from the same pipe feeding the same building and the same water coming from two spigots was the insanity. White and Colored. The signs were above the fountains and the signs were the law and the law was the lie and the lie was that the water was different. The water was not different. The water did not know it was segregated. The water did not know which mouth was drinking. The water was water. But the sign above the fountain made the water political and the political water was the cruelty because the cruelty took the most basic human need and turned it into a humiliation. You are thirsty and you must drink from this fountain and not that fountain and the this and not that is the country telling you where you belong. A country that segregates its water has segregated its soul.

The nasone in Rome is a small cast-iron fountain with a curved spout and the water runs constantly and the running constantly means the water never stops and the never stopping is Rome's way of saying we have always had water. The Romans built aqueducts that brought water from the hills and the hills are still sending water and the sending has been happening for two thousand years. There are twenty-five hundred nasoni in Rome and the twenty-five hundred fountains mean you are never more than a few blocks from free water in Rome. The water is cold. The water is clean. The water has been tested more often than any water in any city because the water is Rome's pride and Rome's pride is the water and the water is the history made drinkable.

In Flint Michigan the water turned brown in twenty fourteen and the brown water had lead in it and the lead was in the pipes and the pipes were old and the old pipes were the infrastructure and the infrastructure was the neglect and the neglect was the government deciding that Flint's water was not worth fixing. Flint is a city where the water fountain became a weapon. The water fountain in Flint did what the segregated fountain in the South did which was tell people that their thirst did not matter. Twelve people died. Eighty thousand were exposed. The water fountain in Flint is the proof that the promise is not automatic. The promise that the city will give you clean water is a promise that must be kept and the keeping requires money and the money requires caring and the caring requires seeing the people who drink from the fountain and Flint proved that not everyone is seen.

You press the button on the water fountain in the park and the arc of water rises and the arc is perfect and the perfect arc is the engineering and the engineering is invisible. You drink. The water is cold. The water has no taste because the taste of clean water is the absence of taste and the absence of taste is the luxury and the luxury is free. The water fountain in the park next to the bench next to the playground next to the path. The water fountain that every runner knows. The water fountain that every dog walker has cupped their hands under for the dog. The water fountain is the most democratic object in any city because the water fountain serves anyone who is thirsty and the thirsty includes everyone. The richest person in the city and the poorest person in the city drink from the same fountain and the same fountain is the point. The same water. The same arc. The same cold. The water fountain. The city keeping its oldest promise.