The Hunger Inside You, Hold It

Elisofon Eliot, "Taj Mahal at Night"

Spiritual Sunday

My Ugandan friend Farida Bag has been sending me poems that commemorate the month of Ramadan, now entering its last week.  One poet that she particularly appreciates is Kazim Ali, an American Muslim poet of Indian descent.  The following poem, appearing in Ali’s book Fasting for Ramadan, explores the spiritual dimensions of fasting:

Absence inside absence, you walk the streets.
What is cleaner than fire, more brilliant than the awareness of how large the moon is, how heart-breaking that people have been there.
The hunger inside you, hold it.
Every time you pass someone or speak to them you know you have it.
Your body knows it’s alive, you do not forget.

 

The image above can be found at www.allposters.com/-sp/The-Taj-Mahal-at-Night-with-Bright-Full-Moon-Posters_i3597425_.htm.

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