Alone among the alien cars,
I’m guided by the crescent moon
and minarets white
to a multi-hued oasis
In a hispano-mauresque style,
fashioned by Morrocans mosaics
Tunisian verses, Turkish tiles,
La Grande Mousquée waits
hushed in reverence,
listening
for the Creator’s call
My body is covered,
the head not,
yet, an as salaam aleikum
is my passepartout
to the inner sanctum
on a Friday, after prayers
when tourists are not allowed
Don’t know if
the tiles of the grand court
are as warm as those in my land
but each sound reverberates
with the same hushed echo
as it does in warmer sands
I wander away
from heavily kohl lined glances
to a deserted structure
with waterless canals
flowing along graceful lines
to an inverted cupola,
which takes me back
to my ancestral garden,
hauz-e-khas in its lush days
Birds twitter
in the same pattern,
leaves have the same habit
of rustling
as their brothers
thousands of miles away
while the only water that flows
is down my cheeks
I recite ancient words
out of habit
in the depths of my heart
where they echo and re-echo
with no one to hear them
except the listening birds
and the leaves
in the pauses
between their rustlings
As twilight gathers strength,
the faded walls come closer
to surround me
like a well-worn chador and
ghosts of women I never knew
of my long lineage
spanning centuries of dunes,
and the green plains
of the monsoon land
Gather to comfort me
in this quiet oasis
where nostalgia, culture,
roots, history, prayer
all weave rich patterns
and place
an intricately embroidered shawl
warm with their blessings
around my shoulders
Lulling me to a dream
transporting me to a familiar place
of twittering shadows,
rustling canals,
echoing with the poetry
of mysteriously obscure
ancient words.
Author Bio:
Of Indian origin, Sultana Raza has an MA in English Literature. Her articles have appeared in Flick Feast (UK), Sound on Sight (USA), the Peter Roe Series (Tolkien Society UK), Le Jeudi, the Wort and paperjam in English and French.
Her short stories and poems have been published in numerous publications, including Ancient Heart Magazine (Australia), India Currents (USA), Kindred Spirit (UK), Arabesque Review, London Grip (UK), Literary Gazette (USA), All Things Girls (UK), and Caduceus (Ed. Yale University, USA), Beyond Bree, (an American MENSA newsletter), The Whirlwind Review (USA), and Silver Leaves Journal #5 (Canada).
An awarded artist, she has taken part in numerous group exhibitions in the USA and Europe, such as ArtExpo New York (alongside Andy Warhol), and Art Monaco in 2014.
I’m guided by the crescent moon
and minarets white
to a multi-hued oasis
In a hispano-mauresque style,
fashioned by Morrocans mosaics
Tunisian verses, Turkish tiles,
La Grande Mousquée waits
hushed in reverence,
listening
for the Creator’s call
My body is covered,
the head not,
yet, an as salaam aleikum
is my passepartout
to the inner sanctum
on a Friday, after prayers
when tourists are not allowed
Don’t know if
the tiles of the grand court
are as warm as those in my land
but each sound reverberates
with the same hushed echo
as it does in warmer sands
I wander away
from heavily kohl lined glances
to a deserted structure
with waterless canals
flowing along graceful lines
to an inverted cupola,
which takes me back
to my ancestral garden,
hauz-e-khas in its lush days
Birds twitter
in the same pattern,
leaves have the same habit
of rustling
as their brothers
thousands of miles away
while the only water that flows
is down my cheeks
I recite ancient words
out of habit
in the depths of my heart
where they echo and re-echo
with no one to hear them
except the listening birds
and the leaves
in the pauses
between their rustlings
As twilight gathers strength,
the faded walls come closer
to surround me
like a well-worn chador and
ghosts of women I never knew
of my long lineage
spanning centuries of dunes,
and the green plains
of the monsoon land
Gather to comfort me
in this quiet oasis
where nostalgia, culture,
roots, history, prayer
all weave rich patterns
and place
an intricately embroidered shawl
warm with their blessings
around my shoulders
Lulling me to a dream
transporting me to a familiar place
of twittering shadows,
rustling canals,
echoing with the poetry
of mysteriously obscure
ancient words.
Author Bio:
Of Indian origin, Sultana Raza has an MA in English Literature. Her articles have appeared in Flick Feast (UK), Sound on Sight (USA), the Peter Roe Series (Tolkien Society UK), Le Jeudi, the Wort and paperjam in English and French.
Her short stories and poems have been published in numerous publications, including Ancient Heart Magazine (Australia), India Currents (USA), Kindred Spirit (UK), Arabesque Review, London Grip (UK), Literary Gazette (USA), All Things Girls (UK), and Caduceus (Ed. Yale University, USA), Beyond Bree, (an American MENSA newsletter), The Whirlwind Review (USA), and Silver Leaves Journal #5 (Canada).
An awarded artist, she has taken part in numerous group exhibitions in the USA and Europe, such as ArtExpo New York (alongside Andy Warhol), and Art Monaco in 2014.
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