chrisfriel
Spring 5
I think she’s singing. She could, I suppose, just be concentrating on keeping her balance as she runs (the open mouth and twisting tongue are under-appreciated factors in concentration). Possibly she’s taunting the boy who is chasing along behind her. But I don’t think so. I think she’s singing the oldest song in the world.
She may not even be aware of it. Children sing as naturally as they run, as naturally as they play. They open their mouths and song comes out, unencumbered by expectation and unfiltered by thought. It may not be melodic, it may not have lyrics, it may not be recognizable by adults as music…but it is the artless song of absolute innocence and it can only be sung and understood by children.
She can run like this forever. She can sing her seashore song as long as she’s by the water. When she leaves, she won’t remember the song. It will hover in the air, refreshed by the tides and sustained by cry of shorebirds, until another child comes along. The new child will open her mouth and song will come out, new verses to the oldest tune in the world.
Blog photograph copyrighted to the photographer and used with permission by utata.org. All photographs used on utata.org are stored on flickr.com and are obtained via the flickr API. Text is copyrighted to the author, greg fallis and is used with permission by utata.org. Please see Show and Share Your Work
