Cyprus 2 (poem) by Muhammad A. Al Mahdi on AuthorsDen

Cyprus 2
by Muhammad A. Al Mahdi → (All Poetry by Muhammad A. Al Mahdi)
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*Eyes closed* *Before the ocean's dawn* *My soul waters its thirst* *With waves* *Waves ceasing to be water* *To become rock* *Solid stone* *And blood* *Leave heaven's womb* *To become flood, tide and craving* *And islands in the ocean* *Furnished with eyes and pearls* *Man is an island in the sea* *A deep scar* *On an angel's forehead* *Born of a fallen sanctuary* *A thorn crown of twilight wound round* *His head's throne* *He dies to live* *And lives to die* *A comet like an animal* *A love's child with a split heart* *And bitter teeth* *Son of an ancient prophetess* *Who sacrificed to fortune* *And the wheel spinning* *Round her sacred tighs* *And round the marked spot* *Unnamed* *Which every eye reflects* *Was the bird of fate* *Who made his nest in a sea shell* *Allah spoke: Kun* *Fa yakun* *And HE was* *Before every beginning* *HIS shape was infinity* *And every beginning HE sealed* *With the seal of every end* *HE obliterated* *My tongue* *Before he allowed it* *To speak* *HE shaped HIS own form* *And moulded it* *In a thousand hues* *And my own in one* *Each resembling each* *And none resembling* *None* *HIS breath lowered the sun* *When for an instant* *HIS eyes rose* *As a white bird* *Over 'Omar's Mosque and Al Aqsa* *To reveal my heart in a screech* *Spanning eternity's dome* *From tongues of fire* *And reverberating warm blood* *My eyes blinded, my heart burnt* *I rested on the drunk shores of Cyprus* *In sweet intoxicated sadness* *I stretched my hand out for Jerusalem* *My blood touched it* *The ocean vanished* *I grasped her soil* *I kissed her stones* *I came alive* *For a moment* *Could I dig my nails into her earth* *I would bleed to death* *But never* *Never ever* *Let go* *God rested in self-chosen exile* *My teeth were raw* *My bleeding nails sang* *Torn from the ground* *Man's sigh* *Ad man's destiny was* *A kauri shell in the air* *A nomad's nightly caravan* *Guided by silent stars* *Upon unfailing stray paths* *Where the unknown and the known* *Are one* *Where the obvious error* *Reveals the wisdom submerged* *And where tears' acid salt* *Is burnt* *Into sweet wine and melted* *Into diadems glowing* *In heaven's blossoming orchard* *That ripen in the heart which loves* *And renders itself* *Without question and shame*

Reviewed by Phyllis Jean Green

Reviewed on May 8, 2009

So many wonderful lines! Love the hypnotic effect you have woven into the poem, Muhammad. The images, and the passion! Thank you for posting this. C r e a t i n g . it! <3 Phyllis <3

Reviewed by Larry Lounsbury

Reviewed on April 28, 2009

We are all strangers and sojourners walking in this wilderness of life. Enjoyed

Reviewed by Sandie May Joyce

Reviewed on April 21, 2009

This was lengthy, but is well written and very interesting.

Sandie Angel :o)

Reviewed by Aberjhani

Reviewed on August 13, 2005

Taken together with CYPRUS, this poem, CYPRUS 2, marks quite a special event in modern letters. The layered metaphors steeped in a consciousness devoted to the divine and a life welded to the dictates of time and history constitute their own small miracle of linguistics. The fact that such spiritual ecstasy has come through a heart and soul that, in this world of increasing dis-ease and violence, could have denied its faith as easily as it embraced it, is no small matter at all. In CYPRUS 2 we have an amazing addition to the treasury of world literature and, if one may dare to say such a thing in 2005, a mesmerizing contribution to the luminous poetry of the mystics.

Reviewed by Regis Auffray

Reviewed on August 8, 2005

You are lucky, bro. Stephanie is not exactly profuse in her leaving of reviews. She's a sweetie though so you should be thankful. Thank you, Mahdi. Love and peace.

Regis

Reviewed by S H (Reader)

Well well, another beautifully written one. This one has sexy moments throughout it oddly then travels back into the verse so soft only like an immortal poet could do. I bet you're remembered. I don't say that to everyone.