Every field and mountain
Every blade of grass
Every fish and bird and beast
And every tree I pass
Everything in order
Carefully designed
To harmonize a soul
With its cogitating mind
Sole Ownership
You know what they say
The ultimate con
Is to make you believe
You can never be conned
You wander past whispers
That honor your pride
With all of your dignity
Thrown to the side
Go seek out a slave
Who fathoms the soul
Knows how it’s connected
And what makes it whole
Side Effects
Now don’t go competing
To have the last word
It’s a drug some prescribe
Though its side effects hurt:
Long vacuous hours
Anxiety and you’re
Entirely obsessed with
Delusions of grandeur
Wounds
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
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