flight feathers

My little fledgling has found his flight feathers.
He has lifted off into the skies.
He must conquer their vastness
He must reach the pinnacle of his flight.
His head is inundated with light
Its blue brilliance blinding him.

He can neither see nor feel this
Aching heart that yearns for his return.
For him:
There is no looking back – only the way forward.

Pseudo Freedom

I'm free.
Free to do whatever I want.....
Free to work, and work some more
Free to earn, and earn some more
And then .......
Free to spend, and spend some more
free...free ....free.....

Is this freedom though?
- free to sin, and sin some more?
- free to indulge myself,
and indulge some more?
free to ignore the truth if I choose to,
to turn the other way?
- free to wash my hands off my responsibility
to God and Society?

Is this what freedom means?
Am I free to call indulgence a waste?
- or a lapse in morality a sin?

Alas! I have put my conscience to sleep –

drugged it into a lull
of false security –

the 'ecstasy' of activity –

and I'm on the run!

Every time my inner voice
lifts its head from
its drugged slumber,
I quickly soothe it back to sleep
with some more 'interesting things to do’ -
a game? some TV? a soap?
perhaps..... food? new clothes? gossip?

Something........anything......to keep me occupied.

The 'activity of sleep' is now a habit,

my second nature –

If I’m not asleep, I’m ‘bored’!

And time, the silent witness, is passing by.

I’m losing out.

I have to rehabilitate –

Break my dependence;

break the shackles of this enslavement,

and liberate myself.
Free me

from this prison of pseudo freedom

That the world has put on 'sale' -

And I have bought.

Go!

Awaken your mind!
Invent something!
Climb on to the ladder of success
Go!
Go change the world,
Go!
For you have chance at your door!
Youth at your feet!
Intelligence - your slave!
Life - your wealth!
Time - your cash in hand!

Faith – your strength!
Use them!

What are you waiting for?
The sky is the limit for you!
Reach out to the sky then
And pluck off the stars!
(they were put there for you!)
Keep moving!
Take no breaks.
Take no time off.
Take no time to chill.
Keep moving!

Make time for just one thing –

Remembrance of Allah -
And bow down before Him,
(the world will bow before you!)
Because He lights the candle of your life -
And He alone has the power to snuff it out.
With Him on your side
It will be payback time –

All the time -
with success in this world,
And success in the hereafter.

Go out then,
And become what He has created you to be –
Go out!
And design your destiny!

Dua

'Oh Allah!
Let me make much of the good things that happen to me in life,

though they be little

- because happiness results only from gratitude.
Let me make little of trials and hurdles that come before me

though they be great

- for You have selected me for these tests

- thought me capable & worthy of facing them;

chosen them as my route to reaching You.

Therefore, oh Allah!
Make me strong.

Protect me from despair

- lest I seek help from others and not You.'

She's gone

She's gone,
slipping through my fingers.

I let her go.
And like deer released
she became a part of the forest
as if it was familiar -
a long lost homeland.
And like a fish
let back into the sea
she entered the depths
and embraced the unknown
as if it were a long lost friend.

And I, her guardian,
stood on the brink
and watched her disappear
displaced by the undergrowth,
displaced by the waves
- as if she had never been mine.

Man is a Pauper

Man is a pauper, really
he has nothing of real value
to give anybody.
Whatever he claims he owns
is actually not his.

I am rich!
I am young!
Iam healthy!
I am alive!
Actually he isn't.

Therefore,
It is best not to expect much from him.

Grieving

My words sound like a pretence
even to my own ears.
How must they seem to him
Who is aleady hurting?
- Like salt sprinkling
On an open wound.
I can understand if he thinks
I don't care -

But I do.

I have failed this child of mine
And it kills me inside-
the guilt, the regret.
I have no one but myself to blame
Had I only been wiser ........
Had I only been braver .........

I had no time fo him: he said.
It's true I had no time for him.
And I let him down
For one reason or another
And there can be no forgiveness -

It wasn't a lack of love -
No. I loved him then
- and I love him now.
No. It wasn't the loving
that was at fault -
It was the reason for living
that was faulty.
Had I learnt to live for Allah
rather than man
I would have loved and lived
With no regrets. No regrets. No regrets.

Now - there is no turning back
The hands of my life-clock.
To live again the time mis-spent.

The future though is mine -
And I'm still breathing.
I must heal the wounds
And ease the years of pain
Repaint the canvas of his mind
With happy memories
With trust and generosity
So that he can be whole again.
So he can, perhaps,
forgive me
And there can be peace for both of us.

O Allah, let me not die
before I have made peace with my child.
Before I have given him in full
what is rightfully his
-the love you placed in my heart
so I could bestow it on him.
You are indeed
The Most Merciful of the meciful.