The world is a minefield
Unto your soul
So watch where you step
And mind how you roll
Poetry
Slow Down
You’d been thinking quite a lot
Now you’re positive you got it
But your brain cells pawned a trinket
And you sadly went and bought it
See with thinking you can’t focus
On the payoff or the hours
It’s a passage through a forest
You should stop to smell the flowers
In sync
Be one with all creation
Connect with every scene
Observe, attend so you ascend
The ladder of yaqīn
Salaam
Salaam upon the one on who The choicest of Salaams is due Salaam upon his family Companions and who love him true All kinds of darknesses depart When Nūr descends upon a cave Encompassing the purest heart By three embraces from the Rūh Salaam upon the one on who The choicest of Salaams is due His body shook with fear and doubt So rushed he to Khadijah’s side Who shrouded him and set about To reassure him he was true Salaam upon the one on who The choicest of Salaams is due Who helped the destitute and poor And stood up for the orphan’s right For when this lion set to roar The worst of tyrants gave in too Salaam upon the one on who The choicest of Salaams is due One night he left Umm Hani’s place And set to pray unto his Lord To shatter bounds of time and space Proceeded whence Jibrīl withdrew Salaam upon the one on who The choicest of Salaams is due They plotted his demise, their blades Unsheathed beneath a waxing moon And he upon a Yāsīn breath Went by: fa hum la yubsirun Salaam upon the one on who The choicest of Salaams is due The spider and the dove, they did The bidding of their Lord that day While Abu Bakr witnessed how All creatures well this prophet knew Salaam upon the one on who The choicest of Salaams is due How tribes despising one another Welcomed him with open arms As deadly foe turned into brother Bonds of love to never rue Salaam upon the one on who The choicest of Salaams is due He bore the strength of forty men Yet walked with humble modesty How beautiful the message when The messenger reflects it too Salaam upon the one on who The choicest of Salaams is due O Hashimī your name is blest For whosoever says it can’t But kiss the air that scapes their breast To blow as winds that honor you Salaam upon the one on who The choicest of Salaams is due Salaam upon his family Companions and who love him true
Rooted
Lord teach me to fathom
The nature of roots
To reach out and labor
In worthy pursuits
To navigate dirt
And gravitate to
What nourishes life
And percolates through
Let happiness be
In the pursuit of me
Momentous
You may intend to give
And even make good on it
If that moment you intend
And that moment you give
Are found in the moments
You’re given to live
Little Safa And The Wild Strawberry
Have you ever been around When little Safa has to share Something exquisite she found When she does, she does declare “Let me show you, let me show you It’s a wild strawberry.” How Can a creature with a heart resist This brand of cuteness now So she cuts through the petunias Then backs away a bit ‘Round the table, past the sandbags This is not a time to sit "Let me show you, come I’ll show you” That’s my shadow on her heels And we’re weaving through the frontage To a patch among the weeds “There it is” she points her finger at A berry red and bold In the world of wild strawberries THIS WAS WILD STRAWBERRY GOLD So we stood there in amazement Oohed beneath unclouded skies Till I went and took her picture As she squinted in surprise By her wild strawberry prize
Scent of Taufīq
When change comes upon you
Because of a prayer
It moistens the heart
And perfumes the air
That later when you knock
On memory’s door
You only remember
The sweet petrichor
To Fathers Everywhere, Stressing About Their Children
Take your anguish and pain
And set down your load
For the journey is long
On this merciless road
And be selfish in ways
You haven’t before
So selfish the angels
Approve of the score
Turn the battles you’ve lost
Into booty you’ve won
Take a breath and forgive
Just forgive everyone
Start with those whom you love
Though they can’t tell you do
For they haven’t a clue
What they’re doing to you
Yes, I’m talking about
Your children my friend
Allah gave them to you
To be yours till the end
But be selfish, yes, selfish
And give them a kiss
On the cheek with a smile
For there isn’t a bliss
That compares to the feeling
When you’re in a bind
With your Maker and respite
Is nowhere to find
But then ease from some quarter
Has come to your side
Your child shed a tear
For you who have died
What a prayer that is
How it rises from hands
To be kissed by the angels
And how it expands
Till it reaches the One
Who awaits it with pleasure
Who adds to it from
His own love with no measure
One moment you’re shaking
With terror and fright
And the next one you’re making
Celestial flight
So be selfish, yes, selfish
It’s Friday my man
So be selfish just once
And go through with this plan
Sure, your children have troubles
The craziest kind
They’re trapped in these bubbles
They’re falling behind
But now they too are human
And need their own space
They possess equal access
To harness His Grace
Just leave them to journey
And pay their own toll
But you, you be selfish
And coddle your soul
Mend fences, these bonds
Are signs they’ll be needed
When your time on this earth
Is fully depleted
Your body to earth
And soul in its grave
Be selfish, yes, selfish
And grateful a slave
Gifts
There’s so much to be grateful for
If only we slow down
To see the blessing wrapped in hues
Of verdant green and brown
