Quote:

O my Lord, if I worship you from fear of hell,
burn me in hell.
If I worship you from hope of Paradise,
bar me from its gates.
But if I worship you for yourself alone,
then do not withhold your eternal beauty from me.

– Rabi’ah al’Adawiya,
Muslim & Sufi mystic poet; she was born in Basra, Iraq
(717 - 801 CE)

music

music sounds differently when it comes from the back of my car while I’m driving down the highway at dusk mid fall.
as though there is a band in the backseat, inspired by the view that we are sharing;
out of the front window at the road unfolding before us;
out of the side at the skeleton trees--leaves clinging to the branches--next to the full trees of winter, about to enter their season;
and out of the back at the wisps of clouds, illuminated by the orange setting sun.

November 2000

Hopefulness

You don't realize the wall you'd constructed around yourself until it begins to crack.
The ramparts you had raised in defense, every new stone laid with every instance you felt faith broken, defensive placements of cynicism against the rhetoric used against you.
All 'round-about you the wall rose higher and higher until you'd enclosed yourself in bitterness against a culture that had seemingly purged you from its midst.
But when the cracks begin to appear you realize how high the wall had become.
And when the cracks grow and spread the width and height of your enclosure--as it begins to crack and crumble--you are struck by the raw emotion of hopefulness.
Like fresh air or rain or sunlight striking you, newly revealed from behind your defenses, it reminds you by its very essence of its goodness and cleanses you of the stale feeling of confinement.
The joy of simply being included in the national identity is surprising, when you had long written it off as a mantle co-opted for exclusion, like the garb of ideological identity.
Oh it does feel good to be able to feel pride in your nation again.
It does feel good to be hopeful again.
I am of the US.

Arch Rock, Mackinac Island

Where I'd Rather Be