The new century's eve
The clocks are ticking away
The last seconds of the twentieth century
The tick tocks echo in dismay
The pounding of bombshells over Grozny
The Grand fireworks embellishing
European and American skies
Hush the sobs and wailing
Of the mothers of Palestine
31 December 1999
Man
Man is like a tree:
He bears the seeds of life
And the grains of death
Behind
Behind words
Lies the core
Behind the core
Lies the substance
Behind the substance
Lies the truth
Behind the truth
Lies the end.
Like a pair of shoes
Like a pair of shoes,
Life and death are
Identical
But not interchangeable.
Historiless
Allah has no history
Allah is before history,
after and beyond
Allah is
Pastless
Presentless
Futureless
Allah is historiless.
.
After-life
Hitler killed millions of people
Then killed himself.
Isn't it a good thing
That there is an after-life?
Gold and man
Gold must be assayed in fire
To emerge and glitter.
Man must suffer and perspire
To ascend and prosper.
I cannot belie
I cannot belie
-Nor can you-
The voice within
Which clearly says
One and one
Equal two.
Spiritual detachment
Can one realize the passage of time
When one is inside the clock?
Can one see the summit
When one is at the bottom?
Can one feel the rotation
When one is stuck in the axis?
Can one perceive the movement
When one is in the movement?
There is no knowledge without
spiritual detachment.
We and time
Time revolves
Like a wheel
And we helplessly
Revolve inside.
Wisdom
Wisdom lies somewhere
Between
The scorching heat
And the freezing cold.
Dreams
Billions of dreams
Gleam in the eyes of humans
Only a few of these come true
The others go in fumes
Diamond and women
A diamond is what it looks
A diamond has nothing to hide.
A woman is a human; not a stone
She is what she has inside.
Six billion ants
Six billion ants set off
On a trip through the Milky Way
They inched their way
From planet to planet
From star to star
Till, weary, they realized
That the Milky Way itself
Was a tiny ant lost
In the immensity of the sky.
Beware
If truth knocks on your door
Let it in with a smile
And beware not to keep it out
Or else you'll be ignored.
Self-confidence
The count back is ticking time away
Relentlessly, inexorably.
But I don't really care
For I know where I'm going:
Not to an end, but
To a fresh beginning.
Deception
The expanse between
An atheist and a theist
Is a mere 'a'
But the difference between
is like west and east
or night and day
Thirteen and fifty-three
When I was thirteen,
Fifty-three was like science fiction.
Now that I am fifty-three,
Thirteen is a misty fantasy
