A poem: Terms of Endearment for Shaykh Taner Ansari Al-Qadiri Al-Rifai


The most wonderful moments my heart holds dear
Were simple days, spent with you and a pizza oven
Such a blessing to be so near my beloved Shaykh
A gift beyond words, to be so at peace with you

My heart aches in lonely sadness now, so far away
I just want to sit at your feet and have my mind silent
To breathe and be concious, to learn Allah
The only true goal of heart's contentment

When the teaching of silence of the heart and mind
First were told to me- the endless chatter box--
I couldn't fathom, or even grasp such things
Only with you is my mind silent, and my tongue at rest

Recently, I hope, to keep you with me more often
AS the zhikr of my heart is- Insha'Allah- more frequent
I feel the constant chatter quieting a bit
Although, recently my sadness is tenfold

If this is expansion and contraction,
I pray I expand soon, for I feel as if I shall burst
I know Allah wants us to be happy,
Yet, these moments are so few now

Oh my Shaykh, please forgive me for my selfish ways
But I long to be close to you, to be close to Allah
This should be possible, I know, any place
For Allah is Ya Qarib, and Ya Wasi,

~~~ the final set was excluded, as I feel it is far too personal~~~

I absolutely love a good bumper sticker in traffic...

Here are a few I thought I'd share which have given me a smile or two while bumper to bumper in the Bay Area's vast concrete ant farm.


"Dear World,

We are sorry, we tried!

-half of America"


"The only Bush I trust, is my own."

"A village in Texas is missing its idiot"

"Your Mom goes to college"- ok the last one is from Napoleon Dynamite, but I find more than just political satire funny... sometimes.

Ending Truth and Beauty,

As the world turns
The sun rises each day
Over Japan, across the continents
Passing over mountains,oceans and valleys

That is truth,
Absolutely guaranteed

But now I see a leader
whose goal is destroying truth
Nothing is impossible
If he sends a wave of destruction

That is truth,
absolutely guaranteed

The sun cannot be stopped
from running its course
But millions could be removed
without a trace, from its track

The sun will indeed be blotted out
The day another nuc
Finds its way on target
As this time others will not turn a blind eye

With every action
There is an equal and opposite reaction
That is truth
Absolutely guaranteed.

Beauty is in the eye of beholder
But that is in life
And nature, and love
That is in being alive

To erase life
Is to end beauty
The ending of beauty
The end of truth

And all of this
because a mad cow boy
has a problem
If someone else has his toys

Separation:

Are we truelly so blind
As to watch another suffer
While yet not seeing
That could be me?

Are we so hardened
When no orphan's tears
Or mothers cries
Can bring us to feel empathy?

How can we draw this line
WHY, is there you and me
How is there no connection
Of two living beings?

Why do we separate
the living here from
the dying there
Aren't we all alive

HOw is it we act
As though nothing connects
Although really, the separation
Is only a fictionary line

It's drawn across history
Drawn with wars across time
TO separate and divide
To conquer and control

If idealogy says I must choose
Which part of me do I side
The oppressed or the rich
The young or the old

You see I am doing it already
Drawing lines, silly fictional lines
When really there is only unity
The truth is the only reality

But where is she?

I wrote this a few years back but it somehow seems relevant now:

Time Slow Release:


This moment is one that crawls along
Dragging it's feet, slowly transcending
The clock ticking away
Each second enunciated
Time passes as i watch

During times of bliss
Thrilling shards of euphoria
Time is like a motorcycle
Speeding across life's highway
Moving faster than prudent- flying

Yet if the past was before
And the future has not yet come
How can we do anything
But live in the present
Practice conciousness and just be

My page looks extremely lonely.

In order to fill a few spaces and not look so empty I have complied quick prose:

The only way up
Is to have been down
The way to the top,
requires you to crawl

I hear the voice
cheering me on
a thousand souls
who've come before

The way is long,
I could wait here
Stop in my tracks
I've come to far for that.

The way is lovely,
though it's hard
it's worth the pain
to feel the ecstasy

All of this
and i think
i've only just
begun

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ two seconds in my life~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~