Echoes by Abdallah  (9/23/01)

Oh Friends

The word has all but lost its meaning

And the desert grows increasingly vast and dry.

The oysters lie barren deep beneath the sand

And their pearls discarded as worthless

Lie trampled in the dust.  

Oh Friends

The eternal voice that has thrown galaxies across the heavens

Echoes against these canyon walls

The ancient call of the one true mystery longing to be answered.

But only a few rare witnesses

Are out beneath this brilliant sky of diamonds

Only a few are feeling this majestic midnight breeze

Against their tear streaked face this evening.

Only a few are breathing the breath of this vast moment

A liquid breath of timeless sacrament.

Everyone else has gone inside to lie in the dust of their musky graves.

Everyone else has pulled the covers of this world over their heads

They long for the rest of forgetfulness

While shivering in the shadows of sleep.  

Oh Friends

If we only knew a taste of a taste of a taste

Of the vast vision of the witnesses of this one voice

We would surely cry for forgiveness

And never cease.

For tiredness or pain or loneliness would not stop our tears

Nor mountains nor rivers nor oceans would hinder our weeping.

The awesome beauty of this night

Would tear through our souls like a blazing comet

A piercing fire that was never kindled from any spark

Nor will it ever be extinguished.  

Oh Friends

Few of us indeed have the courage to go out at this late hour

And prostrate upon this desert

Beneath this sky

And breathe this breath

And witness this beauty beyond all expression

And weep before this ineffable Mercy.

Far far to few will even listen to the call of the ones who witness

How can they even hope of witnessing themselves?

What then are words to them but phantoms and ghosts

And pearls that seem as dust?

            Echoes already faded and quite and so very very far.