I peer into Islam
From shadow to shadow
Backlit by misconception
Misunderstanding
And just plain ignorance
But with open heart
Open mind
And intention
To pursue
The illumination of insight
I peer into Islam
From shadow to shadow
Backlit by misconception
Misunderstanding
And just plain ignorance
But with open heart
Open mind
And intention
To pursue
The illumination of insight
Pigeons in a hot sky
Morning comes
Molten sun
Casts sepia silhouettes
Surreal beauty
Wrought by an atmosphere
Fraught with death
Home in a couple of days
Where battered lungs
Complain for another week
Sol heads off to bed
Flicks off the lights in the hall
Peace comes with darkness
To be in motion
Is my way of stilling thoughts
Stillness quells the pain
Through the market streets
They carry precious cargo
Enigmatic tale
It has been said
Pix or it didn’t happen
All too true
In a literal sense
As the mind grows older
And my memory weaker
The common image of me and my faith
Is naught but a reflection in a rippled pond
An inverted, distorted misconception
Of institutional icons
Revealing nothing of me or my heart
I exit Jama Masjid’s exquisite tranquil beauty
Take a moment outside on the steps
To put on my shoes
Before stepping down
Into the cacophony of civilization
I was told, by many people
India would be a game-changer
Would alter my understanding of everything
In ways that could not be described
Only experienced
But I’d already spent 6 months
Bicycling across China
How much more
Could my understanding
Be altered?
More than I can describe
To those who have not shared
The experience of India
More than I can even describe
To myself
Lines and curves
Simply and exquisitely executed
Create a harmony in form
Unparalleled
While the prisms and lenses of my culture
Cut and polished from fear and ignorance
Distort the culture that created this beauty
Into twisted paroxysms of ugliness