What if getting somewhere isn't quite the same as living?

An ant walks in circles, following the one in front, certain it is getting somewhere. A cicada hums, or perhaps chants, something no one can quite make out. What does it know that the ant does not?

Part fable, part meditation, this little book offers a gentle invitation to question the way we live — our endless doing, our need to achieve, and the things we sometimes forget along the way.

Reimagining Aesop's familiar tale of the ant and the cicada, Umberto explores the possibility of a different way of being, one that makes room for presence, rest, beauty and listening.

Woven through the story is the Nichiren Buddhist practice of chanting Nam Myoho Renge Kyo, offered as a simple practice accessible to anyone, whatever their faith or none.

This is not a book of theories or instructions. It is an invitation to pause, to wonder, and perhaps to recognise something of yourself along the way.

Come as you are. If you see yourself in these pages, welcome home.