IT ISN'T EASY LOVING THE ENEMY

when the sky
acknowledges
your secrets,
the universe
pulls down
the walls,

the barriers
of the tiniest cells
open and what is within them
blossoms,

when we trust
what is most innate,
our actions embrace that.
we put fear down
like a gun
and move ourselves
into a new place,
where we understand
our enemies
and trust them enough
to fill them
like cupped hands
taking water.
love is love
after all.

we don't need walls;
we need to hold peace
like the most fragile
thing that needs to be
born from us.

(last revision: 10/22/07)

LAST NIGHT A MAN IN HARTFORD DIED

last night a man in hartford died.

the news anchor fit it in
between two sensational stories.

most of us don't know whose life

was lost or care the heart within
once belonged to a baby.

in our faraway town, there are no crimes

and hard times are less frequent
and good times an assumed thing,

we haven't time to mourn thugs' lives.

the evening news doesn't owe a man,
but we do, we the human family,

who put tears in God's eyes.

(last revised: 8/29/07)

i will stop using the backdating option and just add these poems in with a note on the revision history.

YOU ARE HUNGRY

are you hungry?

your body is a bowl
and I fill it
with ingredients
that defend
and offend
your soul,
but there are spices
to turn bitter things sweet
and other things sour.
feed your hunger,
but with my recipes.
digest but also nourish
yourself wherever
you starve
and never forcefeed,
but seek to share
each meal as proof of My Love.

(last revision: 10/19/07)

MEETING WITH GOD

(I wrote this September 22; it's sort of halfway between poem and lyrics, but it helps me feel comforted by the newly felt presence of God in my life)

He meets me here
in my one step forward,
wipes away my tears,
tells me i have found my Lord.

i fill my heart with Him,
i cry out to Allah
before the day begins
and again under the stars.

the rain is my reminder
that i must wash my sins
and all day i must yearn
to be worthy of Him.

the sky did not turn blue
without His permission.
the world does not turn
unless under his direction.

Allah, my Allah,
may i be worthy of Your Love.
My Allah, Ya Allah,
may i be granted Your Compassion.

My Allah, i have no words
for the way You fill my heart
with desire to be pure
and praise You forever.

Let Your Will be my will,
let my humility be pleasing.
as i journey valleys and hills,
may my soul never cease

reaching toward You.
let my journey be worthy
lead me to You, Ya Wadood.
Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim.

(last revised Sept. 22)

IN HER EMBRACE

i think i would feel safest
dressed in Your Embrace,
naked beneath it
and feeling my body
as a vague and distant melody;
Your lullaby and nothing else
carried me to this place
where i could give up everything
just to be wrapped like a gift
in the essence of Your Love's Embrace.

sort of a haiku...

i heard You answer
while i knelt whispering in
the ears of flowers.

(i realized today that the Divine ray comes from all of creation not just humankind. this poem honors that and is my prayer to be more loving toward earth and to take my responsibility serioiusly to revere and protect all creation).

GOD DANCED WITH ME

(praise God)

my soul is slipping
away
through a secret passageway.
i am out of the cage.
and we are going to Hu.
He is beauty;
She is Father;
He is Mother;
but
also Lover
and in All Aspects, the Ultimate Friend.
i am Loved;
i am Laughing.
I am Crying.
i have tasted Love's Sweetness,
reaching for Hu
in Hu.
She answered.

i have danced with God.
does this make sense?
no, it doesn't,
but i have danced with God
and in my falling
away from my world
Hu's Embrace took the falling away.
and i tell you
the Embrace
is a Dance
and the Dance is Love.
it is a Paradise.
yes,
i have tasted Paradise.