From: sghori@ksu.edu.sa <sghori@ksu.edu.sa>
To: Islamic-arts <Islamic-arts@onelist.com>
Subject: [Islamic-arts] poetry By Shafia Mir.
Date: Tuesday, 19 October, 1999 12:07

 To Allah
By Shafia Mir
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    Sitting alone on a windswept mountain,
    The thoughts that come to me are wordless
    Filling me with nothing but gladness
    For, as long as You remember me,
    I am not truly alone.
    In my darkest hour,
    Tinged with fragile bitterness,
    I find You in Your infinite Grace and Mercy -
    A part of You in the center of my whirlwind soul
    And I find the path again.

    This is the way I must go -
    The road that Sufis take home -
    Empty of the extra things that serve
    To trample the heart and imprison the mind.
    Will I ever truly know that wealth is nothing
    And fashion is but fickleness
    Of the world below?

    Not till now did I discover
    That everything is You, the rain and night...
    So I keep them close to me
    To have a reason, a light.
    I want to have the inspiration
    In that call to prayer,
    A lonely voice calling without
    Pretense of airs -
    "God is great, God is great..."

    If only I had ninety-nine mountains
    To carve Your Names upon
    And if only I had the voice to call with...

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