Rain of Mercy, Rain of Flood

Subject : Rain of Mercy, Rain of Flood

Posted Date: : 10 Dec 2007, 22:55 MySpace

Thanks to my friend Conor, for the stimulation for this poem. I would never have contemplated writing on Rain as a poetic subject matter.

For Muslims, faith is between hope and fear. Hope of God's Mercy and Fear of HIS Wrath.

It is this fear that keeps us from wronging ourselves.

And it is the hope that is its life's blood.

Enjoy...

Rain of Mercy, Rain of Flood...

                                     by Shafees

The earth is parched, unrolled,

Patiently waiting, patently sighing.

My praying eyes look skyward, and behold.

The heralds pull and lift heavy water.

The ink wells fill with pure water,

And I see the cock swings, and does not falter.

Glad am I to see that sight,

That the condensate clouds.

And the pen is readied to write.

Me, and my people's fate on the land.

I sincerely hope for God's mercy,

But fear the wrath of HIS mighty hand!

What do we deserve, Mercy rains?

Or when we wrong one another,

Then possibly Judgment pains?

Will the rain flood?

As it drops,

Will our rivers run with blood?

However, God is not unjust!

Who sends us pure water out of the sea,

A reminder to cleanse from our hearts, it's rust.

The rust of ingratitude,

Of forgetfullness, full of sin.

But to GOD belongs every and all tribute.

The ONE who gives us without measure,

Whose Glories are independent of us all,

And whose mercies outweigh HIS displeasure.

Shafeesthoughts 

An Explanation...

Once again the imagery I use is Qur'anic.. see Surah 51, S. Adh-Dhariyaat.. The Winnowing Winds.

The Earth is a parchment, unrolled.

This imagery relates to our ages past... where we were highly dependent on the rains.

We are no less dependent today, although we forget!

The heralds are the winds that GOD sends.

But are they heralds of blessings and mercyor wrath and anger?

Anger for our corruption in the land, man killing and oppressing man.

It is the fear of GOD that cleanses the rust from our hearts, just as easily as the rains cleanse the dirt from the air and path.

But God's mercies abound, and even HIS promise of judgement is a Mercy, that keeps the mindful good, and sane!

See S. Rahman!

Peace...

Your Friend and Brother Shafi

Sent from my iPhone