Dearest Sabine
 
When two lovers are close by, they are furthest away from truth and doves of sincerity startled by the prancing wolf of passion. Endowed by the descend of distance from Heavens, there comes a trying moment when truth is separated from false pretence when blood sieved from the tears of the true lover and liar left with eyes arid and lips swept away un-kissed smiling upon another…
 
My love for you Sabine, unlocked the secrets of your own beauty as was truly bestowed upon by the Creator. Whether you truly loved me, or whether others unearthed your beauty matters not, a treasure trove filled with exotic jewels of beauty was unveiled by the cipher of my love:
 

The wise know there are shortcomings in the affairs of reason [1]
Since the secrets of Leyli’s beauty, solely to Majnoon manifest

Yearning with Your desire sailing a small yacht in the desert
Typhoon of depression drowned my life into the abyss of waves
 
 
Yet the distance grew in years and miles, the full moon of loss shone upon my broken face when the Heavens assured that I shall never lay eyes upon you. A black woman drowned in my tears and my pregnant eyes gave birth to you anew, but this time as my noble child my beloved daughter:
 
Yesterday
You were just a black woman
When we were together
Since your departure
You are my black child
Eternal Pearl
Sable Pearl of Paradise
Glittering the iridescent
Luster of Allah’s Affection
 
I cry not for a black woman
Any longer…
I cry for my child
My flesh, my blood
 
I pray not for a black woman
Any longer…
I pray for my child
My light, my eyes
 
Like a child no matter what she does the father forgives and adores, heartache and anger left me and what is left now an ever-lasting affection for my beloved little girl:
 
You were just a black woman
When we were together
 
But Today
I wear your silken garment
Silk of Paradise’s sorrow 
For Allah’s Forgiveness
 
I yearn not for a black woman
Any longer…
I yearn for my child
My faith, my fear
 
I suffer not for a black woman
Any longer…
I suffer for my child
My invocations, my devotion
 
A father does not love his child because she is good; he loves her because he is the father. And this sphinx winged with true love hatched through the cracks of my broken heart breathing my fiery sobs. And I am today mere ash blown away by the untruth of your words.
 
My most sincere charity ever was the pearls of my tears for you Sabine. Though you accepted them not, Allah took them and in return for my sobbing face opened a gate to an unknown destination and when I braved looking through the gates, I found your mother and found you yet unborn in her eyes:
 
You were just a black woman
When we were together
 
But tomorrow…
 
You are my gate
Gate to the Paradise
Gate to your mother’s
Eternal place of birth
 
Now I understand, you are a map pointing to the eternal place of our birth. Whether you walked the streets of Port Au Prince or the streets of Boston, your skin wafts like a royal flag in the air of benevolence announcing the Edict of the Creator:
 
“Ever-lasting home this way”
 
This day, my last day, I can not love you here or now, only you can be found in the ever-green orchards of loss where the cloak of black skin falling down, twains of your braids my trembling hands pulled away to behold, not you, but gazing upon my true self:
 
I lay still under the warm quilt of your memories
Every patch
A moment enslaved by the sultan of your smiles
Stitched together by the “carefully caught regrets” [2]
And under my migraine shaped head
A firm satin pillow stuffed with velleities

Inhaling the fragrance of melancholy
Ethereal blossoms in evergreen orchards of loss
Exhaling the Edict of my Lord
Offering the gratitude for Your Love
Its everlasting roots sprouting in non-existence
Branches stretched in darkness of your horizons
 
 
 
[1] Leyli and Majnoon are lovers in an epic story in ancient Persia similar to Romeo and Juliet. Majnoon the male lover was madly in love with Leyli. The wise people did not see much of any beauty in her and wondered why this terrifically handsome and wealthy man loves this girl? Click on this line if you like to read more of this poem…
 
[2] Quote from T.S. Eliot




© 2003-2002,  Dara Shayda