will taste like fine pastry. this is all one prayer: give me

the same longing that drives a wild madman-lover out

to look for what cannot be found.

that naked need lives in me as a certainty where i know

that whatever i’ve done wrong is covered

by the larger compassion we move inside.

that is the meaning of Allahu Akbar.”

                                –Bahauddin, father of Rumi

don’t tell me everything

what little i know is enough

to keep me spinning spindly stories

from the damp parts of air.

don’t keep

anything from me

because everything you utter

is sweet

give me the same longing

that arrives with this loneliness

–oneness–

that keeps God close.

© 2008 t zaman//n.a.m.a.a.z productions