DEAR RAMADAN

Dear Ramadan

And at the waiting of your moon
My heedless heart flutters
My emaciated soul yearns
I’ve been a waiting groom for eleven moons
though I have not perfumed my deeds
or cleaned this stench from my mouth

Though I have not dressed the best of dresses
Though I come draped in forgetfulness
I know that the light of your beauty
need only shine on my face
and any eye that falls upon it
will not blink.

Though my pockets are empty
and I bring no dowry
I know that my days with you
are filled with golden treasures
that no mind can imagine.

The thought of your face
has frozen the words in my pen
But it is in your presence
that a pearl was sent
Who’s beauty no poet will ever know
The marvelous Quran
The words that I hear
but I am too deaf to listen too
The words that I look at
but too blind to see
the words that I recite
and yet to dumb to read
What a saddening waste
For surely than this
There is no greater disgrace
So with the light of your beauty
cover my face
With your overflowing mercy
drown my faults
with the sacredness of your presence
transmute my base metal into gold!

Little do I know
That when words of the Quran flow
through the furrows of the soul
with a melody sweet and slow
Hidden surfaces of the spirit become known
A sacred softness starts to grow
A distant moon begins to glow
A seed of wholeness is sowed
beneath the soul’s scent full soil
that silently germinates
into fragrant sounds
melodies that marinate
the heart in the pulse of life
and enshroud that life with the Love of God
with waters of remembrance that awaken the soul
Till everything perishes into the Truth of Truth
Till the essence is drenched =in Truth
And yet when your moon dies
your gift to this follower of Muhammad (peace be upon his Excellency)
The helper of truth by the truth
is cremated in the forgetful flame
of crippling passions.

Dear Ramadan
return my thoughts to Purity
Summon my feet to the ocean of Mercy
Moisten my lips with the utterance of His Glory
immerse my skin in the waters of your beauty
fill my forgetful corpse with the essence of worship
envelope my being in submission to my Lord
annihilate my procrastination in steadfastness
perfume my actions with the scent of Muhammad
the fragrance of all existence (peace be upon his Excellency)
draw me closer to the Treasure of all treasures
starve my ego without end
And cement my inner state
in increasing goodness
And through the station of His beloved slave and
messenger (peace be upon his Excellency)
of His complete message
May your Lord grant me my wish!