I may not like all that you do
In fact, may even hate it too
But I’m glad to pass the salt
If you still want it
Poetry
On Knowledge
Sometimes it’s like an onion
The more you peel the less you have
Just chop it up that’s best
Sometimes a pomegranate
You cut it open to get to the seeds
And throw away the rest
And sometimes like a mango
Just take it in both hands
To squeeze and slurp and swallow
Until nothing can be done
But get another one
Trap
The world is a minefield
Unto your soul
So watch where you step
And mind how you roll
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