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
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
But better to crawl through
To this wilderness of consciousness
Than remain unconscious
Battering the cage
Of my own ignorance
I love more what will change
The injustices which endured
Through the long history
Of intransigent ignorance
And self-interest
But have no place
In a conscious society
I try not to let
My ignorance
Confine my experience
And so I forfeit
The beauty
And insight
I will never know