Desert Revisited
under a whirling skirt of sky streaming light and stars groping for that tremendous hem gingerly over quicksand
as though steadied beneath some tongue and dissolving not the absence of sound but the presence of silence
or, as if transfixed by a gaze, stern-serene surveying a dream foreign-familiar
incorruptible starting point inviolable horizon where eye and mind are free to meditate perfection
there, begin to uncover buried in dust and disinterest the immutable letter (first of the alphabet) Alif
under the ever watchful eye: fearsome sun, forgiving moon bless the magnificent hand all else is blasphemy, a lie
experience quietude the maturity of ecstasy longing to utter the unutterable name
only striving supreme or pure can ever hope to endure the absolute face the awesome embrace.
