When Calm Descends As Dhikr Ends – A Ramadan Poem

“Those who have believed and whose hearts are assured by the remembrance of Allah. Unquestionably, by the remembrance of Allah hearts are assured.” [Surah Ar-Ra’d: 13;28]

My piercing gaze of blood-burst boiling eyes

Has rent the seven curtains of the sky;

My burning chest is fanned by anguished sighs,

But lips are sealed from ever asking why;

   For one who’s spent a life in racing grief,

   Your name is where he’s fled to seek relief

Your name’s the rain that gentle drips on earth –

That gasps like desert traveler gripped by thirst;

Like the desperate pleas of a mother giving birth,

When child comes, will turn to sudden mirth!

   Your name’s the flame that pulses in the cold,

   The only place to place the weight I hold

O, friend who’s walked with me on every road!

Friend when I’ve been forced from all abodes!

Friend who’s held me when the grief that snowed

Has melted into gushing tears that flowed!

   You’re this journey’s only constant friend –

   You’re the beginning, you’re the only end

Your name is heard in whispers of the breeze,

In songs of larks, in buzz of busy bees,

In conversations between the rustling leaves

That dance upon the gentle sway of trees;

   Your name is heard on hearts in steady beat –

   That accept their loss but won’t accept defeat

Your name’s proclaimed like thunderous battle cry,

Or secret love that’s whispered in a sigh;

It sweetens grief like sugar mixed with chai,

Gives life its color like a vibrant dye!

   Your name is life that flourishes in spring

   As winter melts with all the warmth it brings

Your name is echoes heard in silent halls;

Your name is drops that rage as waterfalls;

Your name is mortar turning bricks to walls;

Your name is storm-struck mountain standing tall;

   Your name is balm upon my cracking lips,

   The taste of home that comes in frequent sips

Come, hold me as my mind’s in trembling shake,

Grasp me in this world in constant quake;

Come, be my cool as I’m burning at the stake,

Or gather shards of heart in constant break;

   Come press your hand against this restless chest

   And bring my bursting heart to long-awaited rest

Related:

– Looking To Allah To Save Me: A Ramadan Poem

– The Definition of Fasting – A Ramadan Poem