You and the Earth

by Manal Rashid

Despite everything, life still goes on. The Earth’s natural rhythm keeps resounding, resonating, a sonorous striding noise that cuts through even the worst of events. In between the Earth’s rhythm , there is you. Who moves as fluid as a breeze amongst the sea, a tide against the current, a flower amidst the infertile soil, the smile not wiped off from a child’s face, the gray hair that flies free in the wind. Despite what they went through, they dance to the Earth’s rhythm as if it were their own melody. And the Earth looks to you. You who have the limbs to move and dance to the tune, to complement with your voice, to amplify the song, to swing to the cadence of Mother Nature. Will you dance? When the birds sing on the height of their vocal cords, when the wind chimes through the trees, when the water splashes its drums on the shore. Won't you dance?

And when you do, the Earth sings with you. And when adversity interrupts your flow, the Earth sings anyway, ushering you along. To keep dancing no matter what. To keep going no matter what.

The Earth applauds you for your presence. You make the song feel richer, deeper, more beautiful. So dance and dance for others to the rhythm of the Earth, even if your feet ache and your mind falters. Dance till the curtain falls, dance even if the music stops, if the music fades out amid the sounds of detonation, if the others point at you as if you were an anomaly. The Earth applauds you for your resilience because, despite everything, life goes on.

And in this is the beauty of routine. Amidst a harsh winter, the flower blooms. The child smiles from the broken window. After the deforestation, the seed stays behind. The dancer taps their feet to the music. You are here despite all the adversity. The Earth applauds you for your resilience, and so does everyone else.