"It was my duty to stay awake
and sing if I could keep my mind on singing,
not extinction, as blurred green summer, lifted
to its apex, succumbed to gravity and fell
to autumn, Ilium, and ashes. In joy
we are our own uncomprehending mourners,
and more than joy I longed for understanding
and more than understanding I longed for joy."

Andrew Hudgins, from “Blur” (via proustitute)

egyptian flags flying high at the tahrir protests today. 

me and aza at the million man march tuesday. 

o took this pic.  and it is one of my favorites of all time of she and i. 

me and aza dancing in tahrir sq on tuesday night.  o took this pic. 

you know when people are free

in cairo, the past week:

they closed the phones for nearly two days. 

and the internet for five. 

and the banks for five days.

everyday curfew moved up from 6pm, to 4pm, to 3 pm, to 1 pm.  most people didnt give a damn about curfew and the streets were filled with folks carrying signs, laughing, shouting, taking pics on the cell phone, dancing in the streets. 

you know when people are free.  the joy.  the sheer joy, exhausted joy, limping joy, dizzy joy, but always joy.  that.  that is freedom. 

we are so fortunate, so amazingly fortunate, to get to witness this.  a revolution.  how quickly a people can go from apathy to determination.  how a spark can set fire to city.  and how no matter how powerful a regime, the secret police, the untouchable dictator, no matter how secure the controls — people can choose the uncertainty of freedom over the deadening silence of safety and false peace. 

aza will remember this.  she will remember not to trust the police and their false promises of security.  she will remember that feeling of being in the midst of a free people. 

i do not know what will come next.  if it will fall into self-destruction, or rise beyond what we can imagine.  but for now.  this is the bright light of anarchy.  this is so very tender and human.