footsteps and the shadows...

2.

Footsteps and the shadows that evade my straying thoughts, darkness and the childhood I keep having nightmares about... alone; that’s what we are but that’s what I was. I look ahead hoping I see us walking like we used to. Is there something I did wrong? Or is fate telling me there can’t be a you when I wake up? My love for the black angels and the widow who was white; are there questions I’ve refused to answer? I will say what I can, I fear no one besides the Merciful Creator and if there should be fear of the created then the heart is dripping with soot.

I’m weak; there are no doubts to the frailty of the stick that stands alone. Maybe I’m that stick that can bend to both ends without being split into two pieces. I’m here and I’m there but my wish is that I drop dead with a bullet through the heart I allowed to sin. My wish is that I drop dead for Allah’s sake. What else is better than selling your life for the bliss of the hereafter?

I don’t fear you, No! I can’t fear the man who worships the desires of Allah’s enemies. Cages will only make me like Yusif and bullets will only make me like the men that bled on Badr. Now tell me who the loser is.

Footsteps towards my dream and the shadows that merely darken the path I tread...

Alhamdulilah!       

...the cutlasses remain blunt

1.

If there is so much that we can do then why do we do too little as men? Is it that we have stopped believing or do we blame the imaginary forces against progress? I am because my parents were. Each person on this earth is part of the bigger picture, the ever growing network of people; the children of Adam!  I can only hold on to two hands during this short trip which, to me, has an unknown fate. In the end, all that matters is faith in the Lord of the man who split the moon.

If a man leaves his peaceful home to cause havoc in his neighbour’s home then his neighbour has the right to control + C the exact same havoc and control + V it where it came from. That is the law of retribution. Forgiveness is divine, man is but a slave to the Lord of the worlds. I had no say in the decision to create ‘me’ so why should my lips question the decree of God. I submit my limbs and heart to the service of the one who created you and everyone else that was and is.

Blood is red, skins are tender but the cutlasses remain blunt...

You think I'm scared...

 

A breeze with a thousand words

My eyes are weakened by tears

And my bare scalp; a mere spectacle

The feel of ink on paper

The disposition of a forlorn poet...

Lost in the times I thought we shared

Found in the hope that it isn’t over after all

The wind carries far sounds to my inquisitive ears

A million reasons for the oppressed to take up arms

The man who stands up to the oppressor is like a bird...

Like the hawk I’ve always loved

Or like the cold blooded black beauty that caressed my foot.

I’m a man wandering in the emptiness of my heart.

I’m torn in between the fleeting and the eternal

Let the soil in my mother’s garden decide...

As much as there is hope, there is fear;

Hope begets fear.

If I grow my beard it’s because I belong; the expected gong!

The obstinate desire to be amongst those foremost in faith

So let’s take a third look at why we are here.

It’s cold,

The clouds look heavy,

No stars to wonder at,

A heart filled with faith,

And the hope that my fear

Leads me back to you...

If you thought Jenin was the only reason to cry

Then Arakaan and Gujarat

Are just two more out of hundreds...

Again the Zionists blind us with dust...

Those who sit and watch passively are like the cattle

That tread the footpaths of the Fouta Djallon...

The darkness of my heart,

And the light in the horizon.

I’ve walked the thousandth mile,

And still I wonder when I shall reach

The standards set by the man who split the moon

Allah knows best...

I’m just a slave who ended with a period.

Or two..

 so you thought i got scared after the third period...

The way we look at life

The way we look at life affects the impact we have on society. If let’s say we decide to see the incessant power cuts as a way to reduce the cost of living or we see the inadequate job openings as a reason to create our own jobs then you would realize that complaining about certain harsh truths of society becomes useless and a total waste of time. Problems are nature’s way of telling us that nothing is ever complete and the vacuum exists because it’s our task to fill the void.

One morning as I walked to the bus station I noticed a woman walking down the street selling some items. I was struck by a thought; the money she makes from her sales in a whole week wouldn’t be up to what someone spends on a bottle of water at a high class restaurant/hotel. Society is split into different levels with regards to the amount of wealth a person possesses. Those at the base do the most menial jobs for paltry sums. I remember seeing a man tottering beneath a huge bag of rice somewhere in Conakry (Guinea). I felt bad immediately after my late cousin, Fatima (May Allah accept her soul), told me how much he was going to be paid for his pain. Why do the rich hoard it all and totally ignore those below? I always ask myself why someone would want to own a private jet when there are people who don’t even have food to eat. Isn’t there a social structure to make the distribution of wealth even?

Islam does have a solution to the uneven distribution of wealth; the Zakat system and the countless Quran verses and Hadiths that order the believers to give to charity. The Bible equally orders Christians to give alms. It's the same in all religions. It’s sad that what we have today is a dysfunctional generation who have no care for society, a generation that beautifies the body as the soul wallows in puddles and dumps of  filth, a generation that would rather spend huge sums of money on the latest gadgets than take a second look at a beggar. Does life have to be all about what we should do to be comfortable or it should factor in those who may need us to be comfortable too? More often than not people would rather spend on themselves than spend on someone else. I know beggars will always be on the streets no matter how many times we drop coins in their calabashes but isn’t it great that you helped feed a man instead of spending hundreds on clothes you might probably wear just twice?

Maybe if we thought about death often we won’t think twice about giving out our excess money to those who need it most. Has it ever occurred to you that you could be dead the minute after you refuse to give that street beggar some of your money? That ghc100 you had in your pocket will probably be stolen by the mortuary men or the benevolent men who remove your lifeless body from the car’s wreckage. What happened to altruism?

Below is an extract from one of Yacine M. Diallo’s Facebook updates;

“...I don’t disregard wealth, stability, and recognition – I just choose to have at the top of my list Personal development, Moral duties, Faithful beliefs and altruism.”

The world needs people who think of humanity as a whole body, people who view their existence as part of the bigger picture, people who recognise the society’s need for their support and not people who thrive on being egoistic and selfish. Anyone who doesn’t think of others is an awfully pathetic member of the society. If you can’t help society’s underprivileged then the best you can do is sympathize with them and not treat them like animals because they don’t wear your kinda clothes, drive your kinda car or even smell the way you smell. On countless occasions I’ve seen supposedly wealthy people stare at supposedly poor people with disgust in their eyes. But can we really tell who is poor from who is rich? Or does it even matter how society defines rich and poor? Life on this earth encompasses an insignificant duration if compared to the afterlife. Someone lived a 100 years on earth, cool! But he died about 3,000 years ago. A hundred years on earth, 3,000 years and counting in the afterlife/grave. Now I think we all agree that the true rich man is the man who has earned Allah’s mercy and is in the bliss of the afterlife, even though people on the earth used to look down on him because he didn’t have money.

The way we look at life is indeed the key to living a life of true success and fulfilment. Always remember that you are assured one thing, and that is your near death.     

Snakes in my Closet

 

There are snakes in my closet

I can’t change my clothes

So I change my shoes

Then I walk the talk of the Lao Tsu monks

And talk the walk of the Tableegh

 

A million miles

Crossing the smiles

Of the bank of the Nile

 

A thousand miles

And oh there comes Alidu’s bile

Dreadful of the foreseen act so vile

 

And still I boast

Of how all the Marabous of West Africa

Wonder at the meaning of my words...

 

Perhaps the intricacy of the unseen

Knows no place in my thoughts

Perhaps the depth of the spirits unseen

Are shallow pits in my world

 

The talking drum of the Wulomei

I see feet dispersing dust

I see priestesses clad in charms

Moving to the rythm of the beats...

I am in a trance

 

Snakes in my shoes

Then I shall walk barefooted

 Cracked feet...

 

Why call Obama black

When he is equally white?

The mind of the African has been beaten by elementary biology!

 

If I announce my hunger

I shall die of starvation

But if I sweat

I shall eat

There is reward after toil

 

And then there was a period.

.

.

.

and several others...

 

 

You and I

I will always be there for you

To smile at you when everyone else is frowning

To hold your hand when you are nervous

To look into your eyes when all you need is assurance

 

I will be there for you

When the nights are cold

And when you need someone to sprinkle water on your face for qiyamul layl

 

I will defy the laws of math

As I show the world that 1+1=1

Me plus you is one

 

With the strings on a guitar

We’ll play a tune

The tune of love...

 

We’ll take steps

Through the mud during the storms

We’ll take each step together

Whilst holding hands

Together we’ll look beyond the storm

 

Trees provide shade from the sun

My heart will be your shade

if love ever had a beginning

then let it end with us...

 

I will draw love

not the love the whole world knows how to draw

but the love we've shared

 

Our love is

deeper than the love of the literary lovers

and deeper than the well that quenches the thirst of the camels on the sahara  

 

romeo and juliet don't exist in our world

and even if they did

they wouldn't mean a thing to us...

alhamdulilah!

 

when we met i realized how much we complete each other

we are like a Davinci painting torn into two

a masterpiece waiting for Allah's will

to be one piece again

I'm glad we met

 

alhamdulilah

alhamdulilah

We are one,

You and i...

Mirror Mirror, I know you can Speak.

I told you never to look me in the face like that again. I remember that moment, so well. Do I need to remind you? With your dirty acne populated face you dared to ask me how you looked. As usual I was silent. I stared at you and continued wishing I was given a tongue. You filled your face with those coloured powders and I made you believe you looked good so you stupidly walked into the streets so full of yourself. Most admired you, I suppose. If only the rain fell and washed away that transient beauty powder you bought at the market. You look like a beast without them; the lip colours, the eye colours, the facial colours... the manufacturers did you good! They gave you things to hide your ugliness. But, but what if you get married to one of the men you attract with your fake beauty? Will you wear those things in your sleep? And if you take a shower?

Look at you! Looking into me and asking me questions when you know I can’t speak. You are able to see through me to see yourself, why don’t you ever look through yourself to see yourself. I only show you what you want to see, I deceive you...