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
Poetry
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
Heeding
If in this expedition you are on You find someone who understands your soul Be sure to heed their thoughts before they’re gone Lest all your heedlessnesses take a toll This understanding comes to those who will Their time toward aligning heart and mind While heeding is a fundamental skill That comes by will and honesty combined Seek knowledge recognizing its effect On knowledge that refines the intellect
Remedy
The truth doesn’t injure
It only hurts when
A wound long untreated
Finds treatment within
Let the healing begin
Exert
Obsess with doing all you can
Then leave the outcome be
A blessed intersection of
Effort and destiny
Believe when your effort includes
Your hands raised up in prayer
That they by every sense you lack
Return laden with khayr
Rancorous
Don't let your rancor Lead you astray Until you see The night as day Let cool submission Dispel the clouds And warm repentance Return them gray Till Rahmah reigns
lub dub
Stop looking for signs, khalid
What signs do you need
While your heart keeps on beating
To the drum of tauhīd
There’s only One Master
Of a soul that is freed
By a heart that keeps beating
To the drum of tauhīd
Thanking
Thank Him for each comfort
And every form of bliss
And there’s no end to thanking Him
For thanking Him like this
Sea
The sea was parted for you That you may recognize How prophets seek assistance From well beyond the skies The sea then came together That you may understand The end of tyrants lusting For power in the land
Farewell Dear Ramadan
Sharing this moving verse by Umar Shakur. It really spoke to my heart.
Farewell dear Ramadan
The month of fasting and Qur’an
Hearts in hope of acceptance
Turning ever to Him in repentance
And though the world burns with ire
We seek relief in He Who does not tire
Noor is born of istiqama
Dispelling darkness of human drama
The month of fasting and Qur’an
A lifetime of worship in thirty days
This is the miracle of our Ramadan
Eid we celebrate, yet alas, our world ablaze
In a world lit with ire
We seek Prophetic courage
To stand firm in the heat of fire
Be unyielding to injustice, his message
He who follows with constancy
Will find light against any exigency