We Begin Again

Leader (solo): They live with not-knowing. Tin sings small. A kettle ticks. What we cannot count keeps counting us. Choir (response, softly): Perhaps. Perhaps. Leader: The borehole wakes before the sun. The market writes prices. The hospital writes names. Each wall a little louder than our doubt. Choir (response, building): We live. We live. Leader: Cohorts whisper at the tap. Uncertainty, stubborn as a goat, eats at our gardens. Still we plant again. Choir (echoing, overlapping): Plant again. Plant again. Plant again. Leader (lower, slower): Now is a finger-prick. Later is a road. Zero a wish. Ten a thunder name. We live in the maybe— Choir (interrupts, rising): But we live. Leader: We fold the paper. We fold the fear. Still, some creases stay. We drink and decide. Choir (soft chant): We drink. We decide. Leader (reflective, author’s voice): I learned the unknown shapes lives as surely as what is known. By amplifying voices, I made that shadow shown. Choir (repeated, swelling): Shown. Shown. Shown. Leader: Call the ankhoswe. Call them again. What steadies the door is the hinge of old names. Choir (gentle): We begin again. Leader (final): Phones buzz, rumours fly— but facts have their own feet. Choir (in unison, strong): We are hard to finish. We begin again.