The Weight of Water

To be held by the water is to be released from the gravity of the land. We spend our lives standing, bracing against the pull of the earth, measuring our days in steps and obligations. But there is a surrender that happens only when the surface rises to meet the chin. It is a quiet suspension. The world does not stop, yet the urgency of it dissolves into the ripples. We are taught to fear the depth, to keep our feet on the solid, predictable ground. We forget that we began in the fluid dark, weightless and unformed. There is a grace in letting go, in allowing the current to decide the direction. It is not an act of giving up, but of becoming part of the rhythm that moves beneath the surface, indifferent to our names or our histories. What remains when the ground is no longer there to hold you?

Shahnaz Parvin has captured this stillness in her image titled Float like a Lily Flower. It reminds me that we are all, in some way, drifting. Does the water feel as heavy to you as it does to me?