Iraq your beauty each golden shrine defines
I’m missing the scent of your beautiful shrines
* * *
A memory and daily I yearn for her
Seeing Kadhom, the prince of Kadhemiya
Wishing a return, my wishes I gather
The sight of two domes within my pupil shines
* * *
My hopes shattered glass, I collect every shard
And present my years as a youth to Jawad
To gift toward he who beautifies Baghdad
For this city’s beauty Jawad’s hand designs
* * *
I miss Balad’s scent and a sight my tears shed
In each tear I see Sayed Mohammed
Recalling his visit on the tears I’d tread
Adoring wishes coming true as his signs
* * *
I recall a dome whose voice screams to me pain
And cry “stay patient” to the Askeriayn
By his last abode, to Mehdi I complain
The last place he was seen, its painful confines
* * *
I ask myself why they saw it as worthless
By the Askeriayn, Sayeda Narjis
Beside two princes, buried is a princess
Gifted by the Lord to the best of bloodlines
* * *
I yearn for a place, that its sight makes me weep
The sons of Muslim in Muslim’s absence sleep
Drenched in tears of visitors that on them seep
They seek their father, their murderer declines
* * *
Every day from the mosque of Kufa I hear
The heart-wrenching call of Fajir’s call to prayer
O’ Mukhtar and Muslim, Ali’s death is near
Ali’s head with Ibn Muljim’s sword aligns
* * *
It’s presence a dream, a torture it’s absence
A kingdom where Ali, my crown, is its prince
Recalling his scent, which lover keeps patience?
The father of all, his golden shrine enshrines
* * *
Years after his death, his presence I feel
The generous Abbas, father of zeal
Return me to you, at your grave I’d kneel
My wishes I write, your generosity signs
* * *
My existence to a sole purpose returns
A mention of his name and him my heart yearns
When I hear “Hussain” to his grave my heart turns
And my invite to return Habib resigns
* * *
(London – 03/08/13)