Filed under Poetry by Wael on November 28, 2010 at 10:07 pm
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An American bison
Aspen and Bitterroot
You glow
like Venus in the delicate dawn’s light.
You are sunshine
on blue water,
a patch of sky, bright
on a winter day,
an aspen
shaking off snow.
A flash of flowing robe
and clear eyes.
I am a dark star,
a sculpted bronze
coated in tar,
a stranger than fiction
Truman Capote dream.
I’ve got bitterroot tea
for blood. I’m the last
bison on the plain,
struck by bullets
from passing trains.
Will I wake one morning
and feel strangely light,
the pain and fright of a lifetime
flooded away
as if by my native Nile,
leaving me scoured,
pure, blinking like a child?
Will I stand and stretch,
laugh in surprise, and then,
remembering my Lord,
bow and prostrate, purifed?
Wael Abdelgawad, November 2010
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Filed under Poetry by Wael on November 22, 2010 at 11:24 pm
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With Allah, in Islam
You’re pushing your way through the crowd,
shining like a rough diamond,
chasing changes, gurus, clover, sound…
that thing to quiet the hidden doubt…
but you won’t find it in the avenues of man.
It’s with Allah. It’s in Islam.
You’ve got African earth in your eyes,
saffron under your nails, star fruit, indigo,
snow in your midnight hair,
American dust on your boots.
It’s not there, in the places of man.
It’s with Allah. It’s in Islam.
You’re seeking lightning, heat, serenade,
and quiet whisper, truth or lie… a sliver of jade,
a sighting of something real, some grain
that doesn’t turn, doesn’t die, doesn’t fade.
It’s not there, in the breast of man.
It’s with Allah. It’s in Islam.
Wael Abdelgawad, 2009
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Filed under Hope and Trust, Inner Peace by Wael on November 22, 2010 at 12:16 pm
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Going to Meet Allah
Where are we going today?
Why are we going this way?
What lies around the bend?
Where does this road end?
What is the sum of strife?
What is the measure of life?
How can we get free
from chains we can and cannot see?
We’re going to meet Allah.
Fear is a hurricane;
Imaan is a summer rain.
Hatred is a gnawing cancer;
mercy is the only answer.
Peace on me and peace on you;
trust Allah and we’ll get through.
Love Allah with all your power;
get ready for the final Hour.
We’re going to meet Allah, going to meet Allah,
going to meet Allah, going to meet Allah.
- Wael Abdelgawad, 2008
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Filed under Love, Poetry by Wael on November 12, 2010 at 3:39 pm
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Bring It In
Let’s bring it together.
Everything moves in circles,
everything whirls, but sometimes
you cut across the tide
and find yourself in the light
of a strange sun. Bring it in.
Smaller circles, far from the din
of the city, we meet:
your breath and mine,
warm and sweet,
tighter, closer, moving in time
to the galaxy, earth, air,
until we are the center, paired,
and all turns in harmony.
Let’s bring it in, become
lion and lioness, oak and stone,
shelter and home.
Mother and father,
husband and wife,
lover and loved,
passion and fire,
dunya and deen,
family, hearth, laughter
and one true dream.
- Wael Abdelgawad, June 2008
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Filed under Hope and Trust, Poetry by Wael on June 22, 2010 at 12:49 pm
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Center of the Milky Way galaxy, as seen from Cherry Springs State Park, one of the darkest places in the eastern USA. The Milky Way is a vast collection of more than 200 billion stars, planets, nebulae, clusters, dust and gas. Our own Sun and solar system are also part of the Milky Way galaxy. Brilliant Jupiter is the brightest "star" in the image, seen at left.
I Want
I want to travel back in time
and prevent my daughter
from jamming her toe in the shopping cart
and getting a blood bruise.
I want her to laugh so hard
she sprays her cereal and milk.
I want her never to shake her head
in shame or regret.
I want her to love Allah,
to raise hands in duaa,
to feel the deen in her veins
like a pulse.
I want my father
to be given the heart of a mustang,
and barring that
to welcome his Qadr with ease,
not squeezing his hands into fists
or cursing in pain.
Never mind what he thinks of me.
I want him to call on Allah
with joy and relief,
to find sweetness in the dusk of his life.
I want peace for him Yaa Allah;
caress him with endless rahma.
I want the Muslim people
to find their power, art,
science; and the quiet joy
of ‘ibadah and Allah’s love.
Let them step into the century
free from tyranny, standing tall
with Islam as hope and heart.
Let them drink from the bubbling spring
of the Quran.
Let them breathe.
Let them free themselves
and transform the world.
For myself, who knows?
Still I shake my head and laugh,
wondering who I am,
and when I’ll find my secret name.
I say with truth
that I don’t flinch,
no snarl crosses my face,
and I don’t lie about my past.
No acid fills my mouth. No fear,
no hate, no shame.
Instead, I want…
I want
to leap into the night sky
and grab a bushel of stars,
bring them to earth burning in my hands.
Once, in Tucson,
the morning sun turned everything
- the desert, the buildings,
even the men standing in line to eat -
yellow as an egg yolk.
I want to bottle that pure yellow
and drink it into my veins
until I’m hot and glowing
from heart to fingernails.
Laugh, I don’t care!
Yes I am a crazy man.
Let me tell you, somewhere
in a dingy cell a man is being beaten
and starved; somewhere
a sister is being raped;
I want to give my life
to put a stop to it,
and I offer it to Allah:
take it. I understand my words.
Use me for a purpose
and let me be remembered
for saving one life,
making one person weep in relief,
rescuing one soul from pain.
For myself I ask so little:
to be held in loving arms
and a sweet voice in my ear.
Is that too strange a dream?
To take a wife and hug her fiercely,
see my daughter learn the deen,
to graduate to black belt
after all these years.
To bring relief to pain…
For myself, so little.
In the end I forfeit all.
Yaa Allah, I surrender all
but your love! I give up
the stars and sun,
the run of time and coin,
and the embrace of love…
But for others:
my father, Salma,
and those I’ve lost; for the hurt and hungry
praying for relief… for them
I want, I want, I want.
- Wael Abdelgawad, July 2009
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Filed under Hope and Trust, Poetry by Wael on May 30, 2010 at 12:52 pm
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Springtime
Springtime…
ocean air blows in fresh.
So much ahead:
green fields and blue skies…
Allah is kind
and He is still guiding you.
So be at peace, sister,
don’t you cry.
Innocent eyes watch you
and small hands seek yours;
they love you so much,
not knowing how you try;
but Allah knows all.
He sees your struggle,
and your sapphire soul
shines in His eyes.
One bright spring morning
you’re going to wake up singing
your heart so light
you could take off and fly.
You’ll walk up the hill
and come home to your true love;
you’ll dance and pray
and on life you’ll be high.
Until that morning
Know that you are precious:
a strong Muslim queen
with dignity and pride.
So hold up your head
and don’t fear tomorrow.
Be at peace, sister,
don’t you cry.
- Wael Abdelgawad, 2009
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Filed under Poetry by Wael on March 30, 2010 at 3:53 pm
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A Prayer for You (is a Prayer for Me)
I pray for you to smile, my queen,
to dream Quran in the night,
wake up and see the light
on the eucalyptus leaves
outside your window, and feel
the current of Allah’s love
turning in you like a water wheel;
because when you smile I am healed,
and so a prayer for you
is a prayer for me too.
When it’s winter in your mind
my heart is chilled and rimed
while my arms yearn to warm you.
When your back is bent and sore
I sense it from distant shores.
When you damn yourself
I have faith in you like a sunrise.
When your eyes well up with tears
mine too are hot as black tea,
so a prayer for you is a prayer for me.
I pray for your chest to rise
with flowered air, your spirit rich
as your chestnut hair. I pray
for you to laugh leafy and long,
your body whole and strong,
sweet as a summer wind,
and your spirit shy but filling in,
raising your head, saying what must
be said. I ask Allah all of this for you,
because I love you, I love you… You see…
a prayer for you is a prayer for me.
- Wael Abdelgawad, March 2010
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Filed under Islamic Character, Poetry by Wael on March 23, 2010 at 3:07 pm
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Muslim Woman, Dressed in White
Muslim woman
dressed in white
works so hard
prays at night.
Muslim woman
dressed in black
struggles up
a climbing path.
Muslim woman
dressed in red
sajdah mark
on her head.
Muslim woman
dressed in pink
she’s much stronger
than you think.
Muslim woman
dressed in green
walking banner
of the deen.
Muslim woman
dressed in blue
heart is strong
words are true.
Muslim woman
dressed in brown
in humble prayer
she bows down.
Muslim woman
dressed in grey
when she smiles
lights up the day.
- Wael Abdelgawad, 2010
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