If oceans of tears flow… it won’t soothe my sorrow
Knowing you won’t be there… to dry them tomorrow
I have nowhere to turn…. and your hands my eyes yearn… to dry them tomorrow
* * *
O’ Abbas here I am in case you were asking
The road I walk seems to lengthen with my walking
The tears I shed wet the tears that were once drying
They don’t know how to end when you’re not returning
It would once be that you’d not bare a tear flowing
And here I am, in rivers of tears I’m drowning
I search for my beloved… once a part of my blood
Now torn away from me… and its wounds my tears flood
When once you would return… and your hands my eyes yearn… to dry them tomorrow
* * *
It would once be that your heart to me you’d tether
Any hardship would be as light as a feather
A rose once blooming now dusts upon it gather
In your light I grew, in your absence I wither
You were a pillar in the house of your sister
I watched in fall just like the house of my mother
I may be an orphan… with hardships I’m ridden
But in the rays of hope… your absence I’m given
Bring water, the tents burn… and your hands my eyes yearn… to dry them tomorrow
* * *
Could it be you don’t recognise me O’ Abbas?
All this grief has made me look just like shattered glass
Do you blame me for walking to your mountain’s pass?
In need of comfort into your arms I’d trespass
Now I’m alone and Zainab the world would harass
I’m weakened when once beside you all I’d surpass
They want me to be strong… yet the road is too long
And the one who’d help me… calling him becomes wrong
From me sorrows would learn… and your hands my eyes yearn… to dry them tomorrow
* * *
I burn in grief and my face is changed by its ash
When I fall your hands don’t catch me, and hence I crash
I hope and yet even hope becomes harsh and rash
When I hope the whips of your absence on me lash
I miss your gaze, your pupils and every eyelash
I see flashes, I see its comfort in each flash
Its comfort my eyes seek… I hear it when I speak
Because it gave me strength… and here I am left weak
I await its concern…. and your hands my eyes yearn… to dry them tomorrow
* * *
I yearned your gaze when I saw the tents on fire
In Shaam’s court this gaze was my only desire
I’m sorry if from the children’s cries you’d tire
Your sacrifice one day the world shall admire
Even in your death O’ Abbas you inspire
With your courage I would topple an empire
You gave away your hands… Though alone Zainab stands
And though it destroys her… Your sister understands
On a road uncertain… and your hands my eyes yearn… to dry them tomorrow
* * *
(London – 01/07/14)