GOING WITH YOUR OWN FLOW SINGING YOUR OWN SONG

 

Bravery, courageousness, boldness, speaking out above the din, holding your peace and taming your tongue, silenced when all is just noise, prayer where scoffers dominate, reading where books are burned, sitting when everyone is standing and standing when the norm is to sit. Writing or making art when mathematics takes the pie, listening to the stories of the afflicted when everyone is ignored. Taking someone's side when they are losing, giving a reward to him who has nothing and cannot do anything. Being attentive when the order is to sleep. Relaxing when they tell you to stiffen and exhaust yourself, smiling when everyone else is frowning, enjoying yourself when they want you to suffer, slipping a wrench in the machine, saving a life when they want him to die, obeying the rules when they expect you to rebel.

Respecting the fool who is really a king, learning from the illiterate, washing a dirty body, dancing instead of stiffening, whistling a tune in the silence, being one with beauty where all is ugly. Taking a chance where it is boring and breaking a rule that is unjust. Knowing the options and opting in when it helps or opting out when out is healthier. Jam with a band and tap your feet where all others are stiff-necked. Celebrating your birthday without disappointment, receiving a gift and thanking someone. Shaking someone's hand, giving someone a hug. Whetting your lips with water and washing your hands from a vessel. Continuing to live again and again, and to remain firm, to take up space. Laugh when nothing is funny, making something funny when it was not in the first place, chuckling and smiling, feeling the rhythm when there is no music. Staying where you are and making a stand. Defying all obstacles, and doing it without a fight. Being able to rest during a thunderstorm. Loving and hating when no one is feeling. Moving your legs when they are stiff. Restraining yourself from junk food, waiting to take the cake.

Flying with the angels when all they offer you is an airplane. Not crying when you feel pain. Resting when they want to force you to work. Cleaning when they want to keep you dirty. Singing when others whisper, and rejoicing when you want to, to live happily ever after, but never to say "The End," continuing to wake up each morning and rising with the sun. Saying I love you when they hate you. Being at one and at peace everyway, everyday, going with your own flow, and doing it again and again, never to close the book.