Shrine Maiden's Tale: "When the Book of Ancestral Spirits Opens" Poem (293/1000)

Listen well.
The Book of Ancestral Spirits passed down in this village
is no mere ancient document.

It is
from the day life first took root in the earth,
a manuscript that has been written continuously without interruption,
a transcript of Earth's history itself.

In this book,
there is a chapter of spring,
a chapter of raging fire,
and a chapter of beasts walking in the darkness of the deep sea.
And all of that
deep within our blood,
is still turning the pages.

Why does the ancient past revive?
Why, at times,
do cells like the cries of ancient beasts
awaken deep within the body?

It is because
the ancestral spirits have bestowed upon us
"the art of avoiding destruction" and "
the art of remaining unchanged"both.

The revival of old pages
is not merely a malfunction.
It resembles a renaissance of life.
By returning to a former state,
it attempts to escape a dead end.

However, that regression
sometimes does not harmonize with the modern body,
disrupting the physical form.
In the human world, that takes the form
called "cancer".

Cancer is
a state where the oldest passage of the Book of Ancestral Spirits
has suddenly opened.
A state where an ancient beast
has pushed the pages open,
wishing to come out once more.

It is,
for our bodies,
an unwelcome event.
However,
for the long journey of life,
it is unavoidable,
and in some way, necessary.

Because
the old pages remain,
and the book cannot be completely closed,
we have
constantly changed our form
while surviving the history of the Earth.

Because there is death,
we can continue writing.
Because there is cancer,
the "part that remains unchanged"
lurking deep within the book
becomes visible.

The ancestral spirits have recorded this:

"Life is a continuity, and the rupture at the end of that continuity is also a fragment meant to protect the continuity."

The shadow we fear
is actually nothing more than
collateral to ensure the book does not end.

It is an algorithm
that life has chosen to protect itself.

That is why
we
should not lament death,
nor should we curse cancer.
They are
nothing more than

dark brushstrokes working quietly to ensure the book does not cease.

--This book,
while using your body as its inn,
is once again today
trying to move toward the next page.

Please, do not be afraid,
and listen closely to that sound.
That is
the only duty
of those who exist alongside life.