No more I ponder… no more I wonder
Finally I stand… Hussain’s visitor
With each shard of my heart by your greatness O’ my Master
* * *
I once did not know what path to walk, lost at every turn
A world that led me in circles, a poisonous pattern
And from each preceding tear my following tears would learn
And in every path I was led, a doomed fate was certain
Yet Heaven seemed to call for me just as it I would yearn
Embracing this land was not a visit, but a return
An answer to every cry and tear that made my soul burn
To be welcomed home by our Master we all had to earn
This land’s scent to my pondering heart familiar
* * *
Laid before me this land of dreams as I step on its dust
My soul, my end and what awaits me to it I entrust
Levelled the divisions of my heart, both my doubt and lust
And my safety and own well-being to his will I trust
The picture of his dome in my eye, it came at a cost
But worth every cry and moment my heart in pieces burst
This image imprinted on my heart, quenched each strain of thirst
The thirst to meet with who in my world of love is the first
And this imprinted image I bring to you a banner
* * *
He who called for me, with what I had, I answered his call
Walked from one king to another, if I had shame I’d crawl
Alongside me your lovers, women, children, old and all
Enticed by a figure that unlocks the dreams of the soul
When once between me and you my beloved was a wall
It lay shattered around me as I stood in your grand hall
I stood with all my sin and my shame, though I may be tall
My soul fell beneath the feet of others, just as glass falls
My sins weighing me down, portraying me as a stranger
* * *
To each tongue that says, “at your service O’ our visitor”
My heart tells my mind I am no longer an outsider
I pondered so long about how here my death should occur
Only being here could tell me my home is Karbala
To awake and see within my eyes these domes of wonder
When each road leads toward them no more lost do I wander
No worries when beneath his dome, each wish he’d answer
And like my neighbours a life to his cause we surrender
That which can be experienced but by its perceiver
* * *
With both names upon this sinful tongue, beside them I shout
And kneel by each saint and my heart rivers I pour out
Their answer to each of my wishes my soul doesn’t doubt
When miracles their very love alone can bring about
A love that brings me the very warmth, that love may connote
Referenced by my morality and love that my tears quote
Tears from my eyes that have turned to ink when poems I’ve wrote
With my hand gripped on each grave, my soul to them I devote
And I tell them this is your humble servant at your order
* * *
(Karbala – 31/01/11)