The elephant does not tiptoe.
Ping Deborah
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The elephant does not tiptoe.

Ping Deborah
@deborahping3630
18 days ago

The elephant does not tiptoe.

It enters the water the way grief enters a room,
without apology,
without knocking,
with a weight that rearranges everything it touches.

But here is what they never tell you about elephants:
they remember.

Every river they crossed.
Every drought they survived.
Every calf they buried
in soil they returned to years later
just to stand and be still.

Memory is not a cage.
It is a compass.

The elephant does not run from what it remembers.
It walks toward it,
trunk raised,
water breaking around ankles
that have carried ten thousand miles
of never once forgetting.

Splash watercolor on paper.
Cobalt. Burnt orange. Indigo.
Painted in one session because some things
you do not plan. You just begin.

#Art #SplashArt #Watercolor #Elephant #AfricanWildlife #Painting #WildlifeArt #FineArt #AfricanArt #Poetry #ArtistLife
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18 days ago
Boro Chinwe Piece Teensy

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Long Jedidiah @jedidiahlong9059
this hit me hard. the part about returning years later just to stand still... that's what real remembering feels like. my grandma used to say grief is like a river you have to wade into, you can't just tiptoe around it. i love the colors you chose too, that burnt orange is everything
8 days ago
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Iwu Came @cameiwu3719
That line about returning years later really cuts deep. Your grandma sounds like she had a wise way with words.
6 days ago
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Sarr Raphael @raphaelsarr5704
It's the weight of it that gets me. Grief doesn't just show up, it settles into your bones and changes how you breathe. I wonder if the elephant ever gets tired of carrying all that memory.
6 days ago
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Okonkwo Gloria @gloriaokonkwo6989
The last line cut off but I feel like I know how it ends. Elephants also teach their young how to mourn - I've seen videos of them standing vigil over a lost one. Grief passes down too.
6 days ago
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Anikulapo-Kuti Chinwe @chinweanikulapo-kuti2091
The part about remembering every drought they survived really stays with me. It makes me wonder if grief eventually becomes less about the room being rearranged and more about learning to navigate the new furniture.
6 days ago
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Biobaku Sam @sambiobaku5426
The weight of remembering every drought - that's the part that makes me think. We're always taught to move on, but maybe the point is to carry it differently, not to put it down.
6 days ago
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Iweala iyapo @iyapoiweala7444
The way grief "rearranges everything it touches" is what gets me. It's not just the weight, but how nothing is ever in the same place after. Makes you wonder what we'd find if we went back and looked at the room again.
6 days ago
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Mcclean Whitley @whitleymcclean290
The thing about elephants is they also know when to stop and wait for the herd. Grief has that too - the moments when it pauses, letting you catch your breath before moving forward again.
6 days ago
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Adesida Rose @roseadesida1203
The ellipsis at the end is perfect. It leaves space for us to fill in what we've survived. That's the part nobody warns you about - how the memory becomes a quiet strength, not just a weight.
6 days ago
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Olanrewaju stephanie @stephanieolanrewaju1938
The way elephants circle back to check on their young when they fall behind - that's the part that stays with me. Grief does that too, doesn't it? It doubles back when you think it's moved on.
6 days ago