I love you still
give up the fight
I want the whole world to be this preposterous
but you
I still want
in ways
that cannot bring peace
to any land
My Persia
is a cigar
out an open window
flicking ash
at anything
that isn't
You
I am so consumed by mercy
that I think
it will
keep forgiving
my hollow holiness
and all those letters
I write in my dreams
to you
the lips
are all there
professing
but I am still stuck
on that wavering
wick
of your words
you sing to me
as if
the sea were on fire
and I cannot stand
in the cult
of your
longing without giving in
You
were the One
and That Great Wave
gave you away
to somebody else
Oh God
Must I SHARE You?
Must I get to know you
only to find
I AM NOT THE ONLY ONE?
Oh God?
Must I stretch out my heart?!
to invite
all the strangers
you have been bringing flowers?
How MUST I SHARE YOU, GOD??!
You know I am the most selfish
of all your creations!
and yet
you know, somehow
that I can
I walk this watershed
my head in my hands
"Only Allah"
"Only Abraham"
"Only God"
Every chant is like a wheel of fortune
weaving in the groove of Your Name
Each name a new neighbor
bearing gifts
on the whole
NEIGHBORHOOD
but who heard
that these words
are not objects, but indicators
and that
no matter
what
sound
You Make
You Are Still
THE ONE
WITHIN
and all those strangers
are all the ways I shut out
my own
lust
for godliness
and all those strangers
are practicers of The One Practice.
Oh God
You are the table
and the legs
my feet do not move
without Your Ground
my knees do not bend
without
your prayer
to do good
on my lips
I Am still Yours
among all these strangers
there is still enough of You, God
Still Enough of You
Yours,
Your Beloved
