PEACE

Kun!

The cathedrals of creation, lonely gargoyles babysitting their crucifixes

The scurry of the devout to an azaan muffled by tropical downpour

The flurry of bats tumbling blind in formation

Space and time knit together and laid over a scallop's back

Seeing shivering primitive human in the heart of the gas-flame

A bouquet in bright colours, cast by a newlywed bride

The wires embedded in weathered stone that trip in a trice

The Divine innate knowledge of the eternal match

The nest that begins the journey of the spirit

Till it fades slow from wrinkled crabby eye

The aquila of the Emperor planted firm

Those who forget their wax arms will perish in its allure

Those who do not have time to be kind

Speckling the vast empty expanse, the tamed wildfires of time

The hungry armadillo scratching at anthills in search of life

Torn from his sister, the bad dog howled at the moon

The heist of Life from the blast-furnaces of God

The Muslim gazing at Bukhara through the Rihla

The fairies and dwarves in the clearing clapping a rhythm

As the Prince extends a tempting hand

Explosions in a realm devoid of Id and Superego

Apex predator turned soulless plastic-shrouded snack

Camping on the heights, looking balefully at the winds

Calling "Hu-uh-OH" into the abyss in the hopes of solace

The gears of life shifting fast beneath his talons

Upon the fields and farms came the floods of plenty and punishment

The rejected submission that nourishes the Devil's rage

Shielded from the Throne by cosmic marshes of understanding

A lonely Image seeks a blessed path through a painted prison.

Fa yakun.

https://youtu.be/fKRsKNUQjlk

INKTOBER: BONUS POEM/"PEACE"

MUSIC: Kun Faya Kun by A.R. Rahman, Javed Ali, and Mohit Chauhan; Who By Fire by Leonard Cohen; Chhap Tilak by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan and Abida Parveen for Coke Studio; Respiration by Yasiin Bey/Mos Def, Talib Kweli, and Common; Born To Run, Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band

VIDEO: the outro of Overstand, by Dead Prez ft. Gabby Duran. A song that has given me comfort in my darkest moments.

In the infinite, we are mere specks. Yet, our microcosm is an infinity to itself. Leaving a land that I once considered home carries its traumas and hopes, its griefs and reliefs, and an exchange of old fears for new ones. I came to see it as a hijrah for the sake of a Power much greater than anything Seen or Unseen, a temporary stop in the long journey home to Him. May He bless this endeavour and grant me his Peace. Subhanakallahumma wa bihamdihi, subhanallahu wa bihamdika, ashadu al la ilaha illa anta wa atubu ilaih. Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim.