Weekly Poems: A Poem for Eid al-Fitr and More

ERASE MY SOUL

Erase my soul and let me be
Invisible as air.
Detain me in Your emptiness
And let me be just prayer.
Let my passion disappear;
Focus well my mind.
Immerse me in infinity
Till at peace I turn to see
Ramadan behind.

ROSH HASHANA OPENS TO THE PAGE

Rosh Hashanah opens to the page
On which is writ, for good or ill, our fate.
Still wrestling with angels, we engage,
Harrowing our hearts, our destined state.
However, "we" encompasses us all,
As though we were but droplets in a wave
Suspended on its journey to the shore,
Hard put to any single droplet save.
And so we pray not only for ourselves,
Nor only for our family, friends, or tribe:
All must be our congregation, else,
Having thus lost hope, we won't survive.

JUST LOVING YOU HAS BEEN A REVELATION

Just loving you has been a revelation,
Even if you hadn't loved me back.
My heart now knows the secret paths of pleasure,
Exchanging ends and means for greater treasure,
Losing lust and grateful for the lack,
Yet relishing the play of shared sensation.

HALLOWEEN WRAPS FEAR IN INNOCENCE

Halloween wraps fear in innocence,
As though it were a slightly sour sweet.
Let terror, then, be turned into a treat,
Lest it undermine our common sense.
Our nightmares are the founts of fancy whence
We wander through the fields of our conceit,
Eluding the true horror we must meet
Embodied in the play of our pretense,
Now ranged across the night in our defense.

HALLELUJAH! I'M PREGNANT! PRAISE THE LORD!

Hallelujah! I'm pregnant! Praise the Lord!
For the Lord has quickened my womb! With my husband,
Of course, and Dr. Heller, who quickened the sperm.
Which makes it no less a miracle.

For the Lord has quickened my womb! With my husband
I thank Him and science both, and bless them.
Which makes it no less a miracle
Of the Lord, Who works through the works of our hands.

I thank Him and science both, and bless them.
With science I have but a passing acquaintance.
Of the Lord Who works through the works of our hands,
Of the Lord I sing all the words in my heart!

With science I have but a passing acquaintance,
Of course, and Dr. Heller, who quickened the sperm.
Of the Lord I sing all the words in my heart:
Hallelujah! I'm pregnant! Praise the Lord!

LIFE SINGS WITH AN EXTRAORDINARY PASSION

Life sings with an extraordinary passion,
Intent on being all one can afford.
For those who let their love their fortune fashion,
Eden is indeed a just reward.
So might we live in paradise unending
If only we would see the salient sea,
Needing need with honesty unbending,
Grace to love so long and well that we,
Singing each to each, might simply be.

EACH MOMENT IS LIKE SUNLIGHT ON THE HEART

Each moment is like sunlight on the heart,
Infinity within infinity.
Descend now from the whole back to the part,
As fast gives way to feast, and One to me.
Love is worship, as is pure, chaste pleasure;
Food is worship, music, dance, delight.
Immersed in talk, we savor what we treasure,
The days of fasting fading fast from sight,
Returning, turning, burning through the night.