Bilal

There once was a time the elders and the sanctified, when walking through a sacred place, held one hand up, and on that one raised hand, pointed their index finger. The gesture had to do with direction, testimony and reverence. It was a quiet, powerful ritual; a sort of apology for a disturbance or an acknowledgement of the work at hand: sermonizing, shouting, singing, prayer, blaspheming, laying down burdens, tapping tambourines. Shaking free.