The Riddle of Music
What follows you through time, yet leaves no trace?
As long as living things have roamed this green earth, there has been me. The sweet symphony of birdsong, or the pulse of whales, deep underwater.
I arrived before language, before early humans climbed from the depths of the ocean, I existed, a guiding chorus for them to step out of the dark- to experience me in new ways. I was born in breath, I am carried in air.
I carry others’ weights for them, I carry darkness and give light. I see others through love, and grief. I am reborn over and over again, in metal, vinyl, tape, and voice, in the sound of footsteps or cry of a guitar.
I weigh nothing, I cannot be measured on a scale, yet I can be heavy or light, I can press on your chest or barely skim the air. I can crash like a drum, or shimmer like a ringing triangle. I make rooms heavier but can be transparent enough to disappear. I make bodies lighter, loosen hands and blur rooms into motion.
You trust me with all of your secrets, and you trust me most when you believe time is endless. You embed me into your mind, you claim me and you insult me, you ridicule me and hold me close to your chest. You abuse me and you show me to the whole world, and you hide me away from the rest of humanity in the dense forests. I exist everywhere, you cannot escape me. I am yours as much as you are mine. I am the communication between animals in the highest trees of the Amazon, and I flow as deep as the Marina Trench.
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