Category Archives: signs of allah

Poem: Touchstone

Posted on June 10, 2013 by

The touchstone hereis any who hears theName of Allahturns to goldor in the case of the hearta river A sapling becomes atree in an instantthe eyea seer centuries oldor in the case of the greedya giver He suffices for all … Continue reading →

Posted in ABDAL-HAYY'S POETRY, amazement, ISLAM/SUFISM, Light, Love of God, Muslim Poetry, POEMS, POETRY, signs of allah, Sufi Poetry | 1 Comment

Poem: Returning from a Marvelous Journey

Posted on June 5, 2013 by

I’ve got a window up my sleeve    and a door in my shirtI can open any time to walk    out into the blue. Arch my      arm and seemeadows, sunbursts, vistas.Pantaloons of mileage, shoes of market silver,windy hair from lunar rocky … Continue reading →

Posted in ABDAL-HAYY'S POETRY, amazement, heaven and earth, ISLAM/SUFISM, Light, Love, Love of God, Miracles, Muslim Poetry, POEMS, POETRY, signs of allah, Space, Sufi Poetry | 1 Comment

Poems: Reflection / The White Deer

Posted on May 13, 2013 by

(Note: I’ve been invited to present a series of eight sessions on poetry, I’m calling The Ecstatic Exchange Seminars on Poetry: Intuitions & Enthusiasms. As a foundational text, I’m using this song from the Diwan of Shaykh ibn al-Habib (raheemullah), … Continue reading →

Posted in ABDAL-HAYY'S POETRY, amazement, ISLAM/SUFISM, Light, Love of God, Muslim Poetry, POEMS, POETRY, signs of allah, stars and the moon, Sufi Poetry, The Path | 3 Comments

Poem: Talk

Posted on April 15, 2013 by

(Note: This poem posted after a longish hiatus in postings, due to travel to California to see daughter and husband and their daughter, and read at the 2013 Sufi Symposium, and to Switzerland to see son and wife and their … Continue reading →

Posted in ABDAL-HAYY'S POETRY, cancer treatment, gratitude, ISLAM/SUFISM, Light, Love, Muslim Poetry, POEMS, POETRY, roses, signs of allah, The Soul | 4 Comments

Poem: The Perfect Moon-Faced One

Posted on February 14, 2013 by

The perfect moon-faced one appears with perfect lips and bow-like eyebrows. His hair is braided behind his ears and this pure appearance of his arouses our trust that unity will thrive and we’ll be taken to One Presence now that … Continue reading →

Posted in ABDAL-HAYY'S POETRY, amazement, ISLAM/SUFISM, Love of God, Mawlid Poem, Muslim Poetry, POEMS, POETRY, Praise of Prophet, Prophet Muhammad, signs of allah, Sufi Poetry, The Prophet | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

POEM: Robinson Crusoe Dips His Foot

Posted on February 12, 2013 by

Robinson Crusoe dips his foot in the river checking for piranhas watches the grasses of the glade checking for vipers squats in the tallest tree branches checking for cougars barely relaxes at twilight or dawn cocking his ears at every … Continue reading →

Posted in ABDAL-HAYY'S POETRY, amazement, ISLAM/SUFISM, Light, Muslim Poetry, POEMS, POETRY, signs of allah, Sufi Poetry, The Path | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Poem: Five Short Meditations on the Virgin Mary

Posted on December 25, 2012 by

(Note: This poem was commissioned by Abdal-Hakim Murad for his essay appearing in the compendious volume, Mary, the Complete Resource, edited by Sarah Jane Boss and published in 2007. I don’t usually work this way, but it was a powerful … Continue reading →

Posted in POEMS, POETRY, ISLAM/SUFISM, signs of allah, Sufi Poetry, Muslim Poetry, Miracles, Virgin Mary, Jesus | 9 Comments

Poem: These Faces of Ours

Posted on December 22, 2012 by

(Note: Just back from neck surgery, to zip out the last remnant of lymphatic cancer cells if they lurked, and we prayed, the surgeons and me, before — and the head surgeon, well beloved and an expert, reported to my … Continue reading →

Posted in ABDAL-HAYY'S POETRY, amazement, faces, Light, Love, Love of God, Muslim Poetry, people, POEMS, POETRY, saints, signs of allah, Sufi Poetry, The Soul | Tagged | 1 Comment

Life of Pi, note and poem

LIFE OF PI the Movie Just back from seeing The Life of Pi, in 3D, overwhelmed by it, and for me a truly cathartic experience. In it we are face to face with, well, in a metaphorical sense, in not … Continue reading →

Aside | Posted on December 13, 2012 by | Tagged | 3 Comments

Poem: Compassionate Zone

Posted on December 12, 2012 by

Streaks of color in the sky — can it be the blood of angels? The sky itself — can it be the breath of God? In the underbrush a noise — a something’s there cleaning house? The four or five … Continue reading →

Posted in ABDAL-HAYY'S POETRY, amazement, gratitude, ISLAM/SUFISM, Light, Love, Love of God, POEMS, POETRY, signs of allah, Sufi Poetry | 3 Comments

Poem: 31 / What Fire Prevented

Posted on September 11, 2012 by

This narrative poem was written in hospital during a chemo session, contemplating God’s sending a perceived “calamity” that might be, in fact, heading off a worse one. Gratitude for every state we find ourselves in, in every condition, is the … Continue reading →

Posted in ABDAL-HAYY'S POETRY, angels, cancer treatment, circus, elephants, gratitude, ISLAM/SUFISM, POEMS, POETRY, signs of allah, Sufi Poetry | 1 Comment

Poem: 45 / All Our Attempts at Healing

Posted on September 10, 2012 by

“There’s a cure for everything but death” — Hadith of the Prophet (salla ‘llahu alayhi wa sallam) All our attempts at healing are to elude the long loving arms of death coming around us The doorway filling with a sulfurous … Continue reading →

Posted in ABDAL-HAYY'S POETRY, cancer treatment, Death, gratitude, ISLAM/SUFISM, Light, Love, Love of God, POEMS, POETRY, signs of allah, Sufi Poetry | 1 Comment

Poem: 26 / The Soul

Posted on July 13, 2012 by

The soul is a flowering peach tree blooming on a bright green hill The scale of a dragon fallen into the Princess’ goblet turning water into the most effluvious Paradisiacal wine one sniff of which up our nostrils turns our … Continue reading →

Posted in ABDAL-HAYY'S POETRY, amazement, cancer treatment, gratitude, ISLAM/SUFISM, Light, Love, Love of God, Muslim Poetry, POEMS, POETRY, signs of allah, stars and the moon, Sufi Poetry, The Soul | 4 Comments

Poem: 24 / A Little Blue Monk

Posted on July 8, 2012 by

A little blue monk in a purple cassock served us sarsaparilla He looked through eyes that had been through a thousand years of blinking I think to him we resembled chrysanthemums in colored vases He wept as he told us … Continue reading →

Posted in ABDAL-HAYY'S POETRY, amazement, ISLAM/SUFISM, Love, Muslim Poetry, POEMS, POETRY, saints, signs of allah, Sufi Poetry | 1 Comment

Poem: 6 / All Moving Forward in Time

Posted on June 28, 2012 by

It’s all moving forward in time All horses’ noses create the finish line Each flame tip tickles the underbelly of heaven Each heart of ours is the plate glass to eternity’s inner rooms When we stand the whole universe increases … Continue reading →

Posted in ISLAM/SUFISM, Muslim Poetry, POEMS, POETRY, signs of allah, Sufi Poetry, The Path, Time | 1 Comment

Poem: 5 / Seeing the Scaffold

Posted on June 27, 2012 by

Seeing the scaffold at the end of the road or a steamroller coming toward you or a herd of elephants bearing down or looking into the maw of a tiger on your morning stroll his teeth and back of throat … Continue reading →

Posted in ABDAL-HAYY'S POETRY, Angel of Deathj, Death, elephants, fana fillah, ISLAM/SUFISM, Music of the Spheres, Muslim Poetry, POEMS, POETRY, saints, signs of allah, Sufi Poetry | 6 Comments

Poem: 2 / Angelic Shoes

Posted on June 6, 2012 by

The shoemaker saw that angelic shoes miraculously surrounded his feet a perfect fit The hoop flyer soared up and through with the greatest of ease the whole sky opening its curtains so she could land on her feet on the … Continue reading →

Posted in ABDAL-HAYY'S POETRY, amazement, angels, elephants, ISLAM/SUFISM, Miracles, Muslim Poetry, POEMS, POETRY, signs of allah, Sufi Poetry | 2 Comments

Poem: 1 / God of the Sliver

Posted on June 4, 2012 by

O God of the sliver that fells a giant of the gnat that burrows into the brain of Nimrod (such a famous drilling to Glory) Of a spiraling tornado that flattens towns but is the DNA’s motion one spinning spiral … Continue reading →

Posted in ABDAL-HAYY'S POETRY, ISLAM/SUFISM, Light, Love, Love of God, Muslim Poetry, POEMS, POETRY, Prayer for Safety, saints, signs of allah, Sufi Poetry | 2 Comments

Poem: Of Course the Essence of it All

Posted on May 10, 2012 by

Of course the essence of it all is love How else explain the hardest blackest coal nugget turns to diamond clenched in earth’s rockiest deeps? How else explain a mother penguin returning from miles away goes right to her squeaking … Continue reading →

Posted in ABDAL-HAYY'S POETRY, ISLAM/SUFISM, Light, Love, Love of God, Muslim Poetry, POEMS, POETRY, signs of allah, Sufi Poetry, The Essence | Leave a comment

Poem: Took a Deep Breath

Posted on May 9, 2012 by

  The night was perched all around with hooting owls on branches in the dark some flying with their enormous wings in constant intercommunication Green water curled up its lips at the land’s edge under a smudged moon Owls’ eyes … Continue reading →

Posted in ABDAL-HAYY'S POETRY, amazement, Angel of Deathj, ISLAM/SUFISM, Muslim Poetry, POEMS, POETRY, signs of allah, Sufi Poetry | Leave a comment