too many talkers

claiming and blaming

story telling

mental Illness

psychosis spells

healing the depressed

saving the oppressed

releasing toxic stress

all nonsense

whimsical conditions

byproducts of the

grand agenda

I found home in the

merging of silence

and poetry

and sip to my

beloved’s gaze

as my cure

all else

no thank you

I bow out

only to find

it occupied by me

I am defeated

a lost cause

a casualty to my own fear

and unless I battle myself

like Moses with pharaoh

I may just be a living mummy

if you live life guilt tripping

yourself about loving too much

and not loving enough

loving fairly

or unfairly

know

this is not

how to live

live for love

who your heart loves

unapologetically

prayer is meant to make

a monogamist lover

do you understand how crucial

it for us to be reminded

not every sunday or sabbath

yet five times in a day

i bend forward

to the light in you

to all of you

i love you as you are

no need for us

to bend backwards

this love is healthy

i submit to love

in prostration

fully

i sit still in presence

with my beloved

when i stand

my gaze downcast

i seek our glance

waking me out of slumber

my index arises

i bear testimony

to love

our sacred love

this one love

lest my attention diverts

from my sun

i am reminded by the caller

come to thy beloved

this prayer is home

rush towards love

run into her arms

why settle for less

life is too short

pack up and leave

take your essentials

a few valuables

to give away to

those beginning life

what does it matter

one cloth

suffices

a sturdy pair of sandals

set yourself free

lighten your load

give all away

be free

to fly with the wind

let the sail of your being

move by love’s command

on this ocean

we sail

journey home

extra items

I’ll throw overboard

I’ll say goodbye

I’ll say hello

love I am here

when i forgot myself

I Became oblivious to purpose

finding myself

my highest self

I find my calling

the doing and being

this very moment

is where I need to be

so I utter labbaik

this is my Adhan

the dharmic call

To submit to the moment

daughters and sons of time

immersed in worship

through do and be

be and do

this is life

without this knowing

how would I hear my muadhin

how would I act upon

this call

without boundaries

if I let all sounds in

all visitors in

please take a seat

and wait so I may serve you

with ihsan

on your turn

recall Abraham

his call

all takes care of itself

albeit in the heat of a barren

Desert

a babe cries

a fountain gushes forth

Hajar’s exlempary sacrifice

in canons of history

The house is made

For. Eternity

For eternal remembrance

and had the winds swept

over hearts

perhaps we would have

no Mecca Becca

perhaps no foundation

to build the holy kaba

Verily boundaries were

set

Against forces of resistance

Hence the pelting at jamarat

these no’s necessary

for the greater good

hence you’ll be ok when I leave

Hence we will survive

love taught me

the life of circus men

I trained with tigers

tamed lions

slept with elephants

balanced on

trapezes so high

I danced with fire

summer saluted in the wind

walked over water

escaped many a time

yet love found me

over and over again

enslaved to this mad

circus called life

chained to love

I became a prisoner

a failed fugitive

I wanted no more

I wanted a home

I wanted all animals to be set free

magic was my favorite escape

I learned to do great tricks

watching the master herself

I learned the art of being all but me

I found subjects to join me

I impressed Houdini

I met with I dream of genie

attached I became to

animals and a backstage crew

applauds and encores

I grew fond

yet equally empty

my training from childhood

in circus captivity

I learned how to

be a clown

a magician

a dancer

the living climax of illusion

I became a mystery

I learned the art of juggling

all this training

reminds me of

love

to be versatile

fluid

to experience pain

to detach

attach

to be chained

to balance with poise

to wake up early

to sleep modestly

to put on a show

to share my talents

so hearts could smile

so children would laugh

all I really wanted

was that lopsided

two seater bike

a tent

and my partner in crime

love is here to break our standards

of normal and accepted ideals

can we love still so passionately

If all our ideals were subverted

suddenly