Call for condolences
Our need to call
Or need to comfort
Fulfill a protocol
Where is the pain felt?
Just words and rituals
Where is the heart
It shows on the face
The lip service and grief
The outburst of tears
Ready to flow
Next instant tap off
Merriment of dunya
The time span
Shorter and shorter
Moments of grief
Reduced to seconds
Just the rituals to fulfill
A few hours of silence
More the joy of seeing
Lost friends and family
To catch up on the news
Well being of the living
All halal and kosher
At another occasion
Either busy as bees
Set the seating space out
See to people’s needs
The mouths to feed
Sorrow hidden for private moments
Mass grieving only a ritual
Lip service to closure
An adaab to fulfill
Where is the heart?
It’s immune and lost
Herd mentality at work
The energy that floats
It’s not about the dead
He/she is just a prop
Even the sitting in silence
Is imposed and forced
A lost golden opportunity
For introspection – ibrah
My death is coming next
Am I preparing for the test
Auntie jee has gone
What is the message for me
Her goodness to remember
Can I live any of it out?
Be a sadaqa jariya for her
Be a gift for her
Life goes on
How to be appropriate
Our capacity to feel
Each other’s pain
Reduced to the minimum
Or who’s who to judge
Ask for Allah’s mercy
For one for all
Love for humanity
To see good in all
A life time’s training
Need to see goodness
Pervade through all
Exude energy of concern
The busy mind
Distraced by faces
Constant thoughts
Chasing each other out
No stillness no focus
Agitation of the soul
Still only with death
My death
To die before we die
To kill the ego
With each witnessing of Death
Sore higher in ikhlas
The endless judging
The nonstop assessment
Of visions outside
Too busy to find the spark in the heart
Practice of stillness
Through a pure salaah
In public places
Still connect to the soul
Love humanity for Allah’s sake
Possible if it’s real – not a fake
How to care for the sea of humanity
See in all a mirror of me
Truly share joys and sorrow
Or carry around frozen hearts
No layers peeled off
To get to the core
Loss of a mother
We can all relate to
Yet when it’s my moment of pain
It’s not yours
It’s real to hit home
When it’s in my home
The sorrow of another
Is peripherally felt
The world stops reeling
It’s taken a pits stop
No going ons meaningful
No news greater
Then the naba ul adheem
When it hits my home
Becomes a bit real
To know there is an akhirah waiting
Solace in that we meet again
Motivation to ensure I earn a place
Have my ticket booked
Ready for the flight
Sisters’ sit in memory of dreams
Shared and personal of long ago
The joys so real, the sorrows too
Families expand to let others in
Things trickle down and dilute
New bonds grow strong
Yet the pull of a mother
Does not lose its gravitational pull
One womb, delivered both
One cradle nurtured both
Different destinies yet united in love
Lessons learnt from the strict and strong
Nurtured to raise the 3rd generation
Lessons learnt are different
Amazingly from the same source
Allah’s way of disseminating goodness
Parents reap ongoing reward
Lived on by righteous children
Each brings for the parent
The unique gift of love
In our quibble in our quarrel
It’s only the love of the parent that manifests
Caught in the moment to do the right thing
Different views and outlooks
The gift of life and death
Ongoingness of goodness
Endless sadaqa jariya
Amidst the rituals to fulfill
The love for a friend
Goes beyond unspent tears
To be there in the stillness of night
Away from the lime light
Let me empty out your bins
Fold away the bedding
Clean out the loo
Be the assess – what no one will do
Love to be the hidden source of comfort
When all have gone
Be there to hold the hand in the dark
So it’s not even known whose it is
Allah give solace in friendship
God’s gift to us
The intangible wealth
Hopefully the Shaytan won’t reach
Saying goodbye to a mom
Rest assured we will meet again
In the best of venues – best party
In akhirah by the pond of Kauthar
Allah make it be
Qur’an seeps through our hearts
Guide us in meaning and spirit
We live and imbibe it in our soul
The Qur’a n will light her grave
Be her window to jannah
The legacy she leaves behind
To multiply that light – ameen
7 May 2013
Mayfair
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