Whirling and Loving in the Last Quarter of Time

After we perished, we returned and we whirled

We perished, did we not?

When life appeared unfair and

Sadness fell like rain from the heavens

Leaving puddles of sorrow all around us.
Friends came visiting to wish us well,
Unknowing that they were consoling
An empty shell.

We died, did we not?

When hateful thoughts and bombs left

In buses, trains, marketplaces and falling from the sky

Took away our children, our fathers and mothers,

Our life reflected in the mirrors of our beloved,

Now cracked, broken and buried

In the meadow and sand dunes of our pain,

While orphans and widows turn to us crying, "Why?"

We were lost, were we not?

No humour amused us,

No song calmed us,

No balm soothed us.

We were simply blown away, were we not?

By the rising storm from the east,

By the despairing horde from the south,

By the lords of the north and west,

Where has gone the light of the universe?

Where is the orphan from the desert?

Where is the Moon above Medina?

Where is Layla and her Majnun?

From this despair we return;
We are now whirling,
We are now loving,

Expelling the death of hope,

Turning aside the defeat of humanity,

Ending the famine of mercy,

Watering the drought of love,

We are struggling, are we not?

We are asking, ‘Forgive us’

We are pleading “Do not forsake us, o' Lord’

We are begging, 'This way that You love us,

Do not ever stop...'

How needful are we for You,

Are we not?

O' God?

Sinner. Do not worry, sunshine. If I could whirl, I would not write. If I was so busy 'being good' I would not spend so much time in the grubby confines of the sinners' almanac. Things are difficult, but perhaps things were never so easy to begin with.

Still around. It is coming to the end of 2011, and soon the Christians will celebrate Christmas, and later in 2012, it shall be the turn of the Chinese to celebrate their new year. Thank you for still being around, my friends. Thank you for sticking with it, for rising up however fate has put you down, for facing the big and small adversities of your life with patience and submission.

End of Time. People worry about the end of time, and there are pundits out there whose sole job is to chronicle the passing of Armageddon's milestones. I do not have the talent nor the sheer chutzpah for that. My job is only to write and remind myself how beautiful this world is, how it can still be preserved and how there exist still millions upon millions of people out there, whom without funfair or grand gestures continue to live their days, making beautiful changes, and sparking a beautiful light in the lives of those whom they touch.

I appreciate all that you are, and all that you are trying to be. God bless.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way