You say that you are a Muslim 
You say you stand for Islam 
But how can your Islam
Be so different to mine 

Two individuals 
On opposite sides of the globe
We believe in the same God 
Follow the same voice 

If you are a Muslim
Your actions would show it 
You would follow the Qur'an 
And not distort it

If you are Muslim and this is your Islam
Then I am a non-believer
Refusing to take the blame
So oppress not in my name

I met a girl who chased paradise 
Whilst I chased the sun
She stood firm for prayer
Whilst I sat laid back 

Lord she was steadfast
And strong 
Determined and right
She was guided by the light

And I got distracted by the night 
So there I stood a sinner 
Oblivious of one more sin 
And there she was happy 

Content and thankful
So I pray to be like her 
And that she gets rewarded for being faithful
Whilst I committed to fault after fault

She came to you before the casket closed 
We will all come back to you when our eyes won't open

whelming-
evening silence
-soothing quelling dwelling

a much quieter song
- moon pulls the tide along
singing of the sea

sun slides down-
the stars align
exactly as they should-
and shine

rest, earth-
breathe deep-
-we sleep.

r ~ 9/27/14

still awake
yet my body
longs for sleep

thoughts are
rushing in and
not slowing down

the more I try
to sleep I
am more awake

I am sleepless
not because I
am full of fear

I can't sleep
because my heart
is brimming with love

I am filled
with anticipation of
love yet to come

Your eyes-
coal black fire
mirrors of my desire

Your mouth-
warm bath of oaths
bespoken for

Your *******-
rouged red-bullet tipped
honeysuckled bliss

Those hips-my reins
move you the way
I need you most

and your kiss-
like a hiss from a dip
of a branding iron

burn me with your lips
and make me yours-
ride me into the abyss

-of sighs.

r ~ 9/25/14

the one I knew
is dead and gone
lost at sea

pulled out
by the tide
drowned at sea

only to return
as not walking corpse
but a new man

you did not
rise like the Phoenix
out the ashes
but rose out of the water
baptized by the trial at sea
into a hardened sailor
with a sensitive heart
because of the suffering you bore

being lost is relative
and in some ways
you found yourself
for the first time
when you were
lost at sea

you came to the rodeo
with your latest portfolio
of sidekick apparatchi(c)ks

colorful lily - a realpolitik mariposa
and gloriosa - tall like a ponderosa
while i rode the appaloosa-
cool like - little joe

do they make you hum
a sweet song like i do?

sitting on your spanish saddle
booted to skeedaddle
when i beat the buzzer
while buzzards circled-
beneath a purple sun

you came that time
when i rode
-on the blue mesa.

r ~ 9/24/14