Category Archives for Mapping Spirituality

Homage

 

 

For his art, he withdrew
His soul, a spent sun
Hung seven layers above
A midnight moon,
His feet a bed beneath the shadows
Preferring plant and stone
To lustiness. I lingered,
A tear to every storm and wind
Rounded firmly in his palm,
To the rhythm of the nightingale
He praised me in every colour imaginable,
Preserving his love, with mirth
And breath, he fashioned me a book,
A matrimony of bride and earth
To lines, poised, only to burst
With ecstatic bliss.
This rite, a sweet hymn
To tune the heart at dawn.

Only he who loves, with his whole heart, knows God…

 

 

 

 

 

(c) A Hannan

 

 

 

Stories of a Madman

 

 

I happened upon a flower I did not recognise,
Its shadow imprinted with the suns height,
Admonitions, a gentle nostalgic breeze raising shoulders,
Mastering curls already tussled, my lips
Arguing with themselves as I came back to me.

~

I closed my eyes and picked a random flower with a blind hand,
Tempted, its colour brushed across the sky.
I watched a poet once press the scent beside his heart
Where it proceeded to advance analogies of death.
All essence seeks love. When we reach it, robes fall off,
The petal dies. There is nothing so lovely at all.

~

I want this union. Life slipping to forever, resurrecting an uninhabited us.
I watch birds; they know the moment to fly.
I listen to the many fallen leaves; they know when to sing with the wind.
I learned from the madman who came to bury me;
He told me it was time to meet you.

~

I will meet you there in the garden at sunrise. You already know the way.

 

 

(c) A Hannan

Ordained to Dance

The Passage

The following poem is a collaboration between myself and a very dear friend of mine, the incredibly talented Syrian/American poet Assef Al-Jundi.

Ordained to Dance

With my index finger I trace
a smooth invisible arc
down the glossy round surface
of this orb.

I exhale crystal goblets
of fruitless faith in the calm of
numinous white blossoms

while alternating waves of pace
and rhythm perform
a ceremony of shifting guards.

Almost lost—
subtle voices a slice
above, below audible,
wine without cups,
heaven-less clouds,

backs turned to mystery,
the nomadic prison
resting in wisdom,
ancient pages unreeling
amid azure skies
of naked eloquence.

Alarms shriek
in every quarter of this wistful city.
I look for you to make love
the path to abide this
supernatural immensity.

With eyes shut fast
in aching sensuality
I’ll choose a landscape
like a canvas of tears
dreaming.

I’ll find release
in the strands of my knowing instincts.
Make permanent
the jubilant abandon of my twinging spirit.

Sorted
the remnants of my prophet’s revelations
clung to drunken ramblings of
unfortunate muses
only to arrive
full circle.

© Aaliyah Hannan and Assef Al-Jundi

The Passage with Arabic

Arabic words painted on the image are:
Passion, Love, Beauty, Imagination, Soul, Affection, Ardor, and Flame (Lahab)

The Passage of Birds

We follow the flight of birds
as colours change
and the North wind blows
it’s first born breeze.

Now cold life marries,
death blossoms a seasons
subtle turning. Bloom I,
the suicide of One realizing
flesh through seed and fire.

This is a moment smothered
in earth, no air, no room
to grow, increments of I
in time frozen from thought.

Fractured passing’s kiss me
from above and beneath.
I lament a history, mirror
reflecting my migration.

We follow the flight of birds….

(c) A Hannan

Loves Breath

Not only birds can fly.

My friends wait patiently,
Council as I fix flowers in my hair.
They know I am in love.

I am forever gazing at his eyes,
A sky so blue it awakens me
From a little trance, wanting more.

We do not speak
We kiss,
Climb stars to nowhere
But the summit of eternity,
Each footstep closer
As he places his hands in my soil
Amidst flowers and leaves.
We nurture life.

Silent, we are, here.
We do not speak,
We breathe.

Before his eyes, the curve of my softness,
A fragranced gateway to His embrace.

(c) A Hannan

Image titled ‘Blue Halo’ by Rich Fredrick

Travelling Is Not Forever

The will of God brought him here

Empty, his heavy load walks in fields,

Tall grass entwined, dancing

As his warm breath weeps.

Do you see the curves of the garden?

Do you listen to the wind?

The mountains and rivers, a poet,

Endless sky her fragrance,

Feel her moon, a garden path.

How hard is it to apprehend a moment of seeing?

The surrendering of the heart

Causes flowers to bloom,

Eyes become the rhythm of our breath.

There is a flower between our heart and our eyes,

That which exudes forth, is one.

If anything is anything, it is love.

A traveller, his cup empty

That he may fill with the dawn of love

And rest in her arms.

She is within, breaking sunrise

And sipping dew with the birds.

Travelling is not forever.

Do not worry. He who caused the fall, will save.

(c) A Hannan

The Song of Death

Between God and you
A hammock holding a lifetime, me,
Seven skies falling to one prayer,
Janazah whispered upon the backs of eagles,
Death of I to a union of two doves,
Pearled tears navigating desert dunes, cheeks
The hills of Eden pressed with sun, with moon,
Endless seasons spilling Zamzam’s water, life.
On my axis, I spin, planets of silk
Catching the sun to my moon.
I make Hajj to your well,
Fold your wings over my heart,
Quilted, heartnotes
Descant vibrations on the rim
Of wine glasses, grapes, flowers,
10,000 Angels singing in unison,
A place to lay my head.
This language watches birds in flight,
Catches our descent
Footing us firm to earth, soil
Bloomed in blood where your hand
Carved poetry to my naked flesh.
Habibi, weave the stars to cloud
Heart white butterflies
A path to which I tread,
A seed and a flame alongside as I pace
Seven times your Ka’aba, my hand
Striking stone over the first man’s,
Abraham and Ishmael
Drumbeats speaking over skin,
Ovary and stamen stretch a rhythm
To my salat, in your arms.

Do you feel the water of life in my skin?

(C) A Hannan