Samy's Eyes

Originally appeared in Sage of Consciousness ezine, 2006, volume Multicultural Minglings.

Samy's Eyes


Samy,
has funny eyes,
So far away from my color,
they have such
distant origins from mine.

Can you see, his eyes are
amber with dusty blue and khaki,
and specks of African gold.
So complex are the eyes of this man
of Algeria.

Maghreb bees have placed their honeycomb there,
And turquoise waters from the northern sea
Swirl in Berber patterns in his eyes,
that flow with the sounds of Rai
or from the scent of couscous royal,
they have such distant origins from mine

Honey and dates,
Olive oil and milk,
have fed his eyes
that see thru a Berber lens
of gold and khaki and amber and blue

Eyes that grew up along the shores of Jijil,
And know the boulevards of Algiers and Oran,
The toureg turbens of gauzey blue
and the names Tizi Izou and Al-Kader

And treats the world as the Prophet would,
Insh'allah,
who has such distant origins from mine.

Now, these eyes, walk with me
on Parisian streets,
And shops
And to home

They look at me,
those turquoised eyes
That make me think he is a seer,
the "visionary of Jijil" I say,
and Insh'allah,
Does he see?
The wealthy Parisian women,
In patterned fabrics,
by Dior and Gauthier,
Or others in jeans and sandals,
Or the maghrebine
who flow in
Dresses and veils on Paris streets
Their eyes darting at one another,
along the northern banks of the Seine.

And another "Insh'allah" is heard
amid the French "saluts',
over coffee and tea and Zinedine

And Samy's eyes look at me

And I see

The warm waters of the Mediterranean
And the wind from Sahara,
That have carved the colors of the earth
Into Samy's beautiful Algerian eyes
that have such distant origins from mine.