I Keep Knocking
i’ve been knocking
since even before
i knew how to turn
fingers to fist
even before
i knew
there was a door
sometimes i tire of it
then think:
what else can i do?
forgotten, as i have
every other trick
and concern
but this
silent, inward walking
where everything
could be a sign
that i am headed
on a path, straight
to You, or
phantoms of my mind
colourful puppets
of my desires
every day
in new disguise
You speak to me
in a multiplicity
of form and sound and light
and that which is neither
thought nor form
in my deaf-blindness
i miss more than i read
i can’t see You!
i can’t hear You!
but You can see me
hear me
that is how i comfort myself
and keep knocking
with hope
that some day
You will open the door
1st june 2011
shahbano aliani
Beautiful. I love the way it takes you to the beginning when our intelligence was naught and then to the end when we are still naught.
ReplyDeleteIt also reminded me of Salih Qazwani who always taught his disciples, "Who knocks at the door of someone constantly, one day the door must be opened to him" Rabi'a Al Basri one day heard it and said,
"Salih, how long will you go on preaching thus, using the future tense, saying 'will be opened'? Was the door ever closed? It was ever open."
thank you for your kind words and for sharing this beautiful story about Salih Qazwani and Rabi'a Al Basri.
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