Khalid Mukhtar

Will you be the very one
Who will turn away from me
When the resurrection’s done,
Is that just the way we’ll be?

Will we both await our turns
On the plains of reckoning
While the temperature, it burns
All delusion that we bring?

Will the passing of that grief
Both our memories renew?
Will I savor the relief
At the fountain next to you?

All of thirst quenched at the hands
Of the one we longed to meet,
Will I recognize the lands
That you tread beneath your feet

As the peace I once had known
Back when you and I were one
Fore the swell of time had grown
Neath the blaze of newborn sun?

It’s hard to see you weep
When you’re crying in the rain;
It’s hard to hear your voice
In the rattle of a train;

It’s hard to hold a candle
To the splendor in the sky,
And hard to see the light
When the sun is in my eye;

So I can’t know the pains
You knew when we were one,
Like tears in the rains,
And a candle in the sun;

You kept a pieace of me
From our separation sweet,
I’ll know it when I see
Paradise beneath your feet.

There is a peace one never knows
If one does not believe,
A peace that comes to only those
Who masterfully weave

A tapestry so intricate
And rich in every strand
That’s dyed with every hue of faith
By a sincere hand;

It is the peace that came upon
A meditating man,
A visit from a stranger by
A sempiternal plan;

The angel held him in embrace
As was the task assigned,
Compressed his heart, a thing of grace
And piety combined.

And thus the being heavenly
Commanded him recite,
But how could he comply when he
Could neither read nor write;

And so the man declined despite
The vastness in his breast
Again, the angel held him tight,
Again his heart compressed.

And when the angel pressed his will,
The man was filled with fear,
And feeling quite incapable,
He sensed his end was near;

But angel actions waver not,
As does not falter plan
That hones the intellect of what
Is ordinary man.

Embracing him again so tight,
Expelling all his breath,
Compressing heart with bonds of light,
The man was near death;

And then release, expanding breast
So wide and so sublime,
Exploding spirit long suppressed,
Transcending space and time.

A wave of light that filled the sea,
A blast that filled the air,
A shock that spanned the universe
And all within its care;

Then rose up, through the firmaments
The news of what occurred:
The last and final messenger
Had borne the Mighty Word.

You can’t see the air, but you know that it’s there,
It stirs up the sand, and it blows through your hair,
It flushes your blood as you breathe everywhere,
You can’t see the air, but you know that it’s there;

You can’t see a love, but you know of its bliss
That brings you a peace and it makes you to kiss,
Reminds you of times and of people you miss,
You can’t see a love, but you know of its bliss;

You can’t see your Lord for an eye cannot bear
What minds cannot measure though hearts may declare,
Like air ever trapped in a medium rare
And love ever blind to the sight of despair.

If your Lord loves a thing unto which you incline
In the hope that the Lord will be pleased,
Then His pleasure with you is a promise divine
With no part of it ever decreased.

But if He is displeased with a thing you adore,
And it grieves you that He is displeased,
It may please Him to see you get down on the floor
To take stock of a heart that’s diseased.

With a heart that is flushed and abluted with tears,
Let the earth take your brow and your knees,
And when grief, like the dew in the sun, disappears,
Do get up and get on with it, please.

It’s hard to see you cough and sneeze,
All curled up in a ball;
To toss and turn at every wheeze
Is just no good at all.

You miss your healthy self before
The coming of those germs,
But you know even germs must live
Their predetermined terms.

The cloud upon your face declares
The falling of a tear,
But hold your head up high for there’s
A silver lining here;

It’s true, the Messenger has said
The Lord is with the ill,
So come prepare the finest spread
To host Him and His will.

Begin with appetizer chants
Of His Majestic Name,
And line your plush repentance with
The cushions of your shame,

To pour into the goblet of
Your heart the Word of Light,
The more the pleasure of your guest
The more that you recite.

And then your Guest will sup upon
Your supplication fine,
Choose every word with care as you
Beseech your Guest Divine.

For everything you ask him for
Is granted you, or stored
For you to be united with
The day you meet your Lord.

Remember, child, that you are in
A state, supreme and pure;
So pray for much, but do begin
By asking for a cure.