He looked in the mirror and around,
            into his own,
He looked out the window and into
            the evening,
And, fearing strange words from strong
            thoughts,
Hid amid the storms that his heart ruled;
                         yet:
Had known he should not have travelled
            into that good night of thought,
   but could not reverse what his fate writ,
Hated to go there with the thunders he
            bore inside,
  but needed their roar to stay awake,
Felt heart-broken that he'd see home
              no more,
  lest it rained in him who thought in
              the dark!

Do we mistake love for lust?
Or leave out the truth even at price
               of loss?
Can man ever overcome his nature  and
               still breathe?
    

                             -by Hakim Kassim.
                             (c. 1989)

a view--
things up in a view.
eyes to see,
heart--in me!
weather in unfairness,
ultimately for goodness.
unhappy, ignored---
unwilling, bored!
but a new-born world--
to reap and wield bold;
nothing from the past to deduce--
it's all a new-born delight to induce!
far-away in the sky clouds merge,
for a new-spring to emerge.

                                           -by
                               Hakim H. Kassim.
                              (-d. April 29, 2025)

If ever I were to pick who could quite
      understand
Me, in mind and love, across entire
      land--

Who'd be the one love in my arms to
     hold,
Then and now, as throughout my days
     in this world:

The one girl who forever reigns in my
      heart and dream,
The one and only face in my mind
      agleam;

To forever caress and vividly kiss, and
      quietly just watch
Her deep dark eyes, and again sweetly
       touch

Her tender small *******, her slender
       waist to soothe around,
Breath to breath, with little moans in
        sound;

If ever I did, or do, love a ******* earth,
Or ever were to trust heart's hunch
         since birth,

It'd be you, S_,  in heaven or here--
And whatever you do, or don't, 'bout it,
         my vow you hear.

                                         -by
                                Hakim Kassim.
                               (-d. April 25, 2025).

SHE is known to me in the middle of
      the night,
My most familiar figure blossoming
      over heart and soul--
The slender-tall ethereal figure with soft
      hands holding in holy light
Her small *******, softly on me yet to
      caress along, and cajole
Me in infinite sensual energy and desire
       to gratify,  but to console;
SHE is beyond what in words to express,
       what you usually perceive;
SHE carries me gently over all desire
        passing and carnal,
To draw me safe and sound, for SHE
        would never deceive
All the way till Ultimate Joy in being
        abysmal
In the wilderness that is the One, true
         and actual!

                                         -by
                               Hakim Kassim.
                             (-d. April 15, 2025)

you to me come in parts,
regardless of hearts--

numbing yours ears,
as if no one hears;

then next day you see me and deny
that we ever were close, a passing lie;

in one part you're open and talk,
distancing,  a competitive crosstalk;

in vain my smile, my airs to engage
you in this hapless chat--yet you upstage

me;  next day you come all quiet,
          your eyes
absent elsewhere, thoughts in sighs;

with a new face every time we meet,
when'll our hearts learn to rhyme?

isn't there a future for us together in
        joy--
isn't there in time a chance to enjoy?

                                       -by
                              Hakim H. Kassim.
                              (-d. March 22, 2025)
                              /-Jigjiga.

Every drop its own

pathway, that's how water makes --


its way to the sea.

BELATED RELEASE.

for all the wide world that I've seen,
it's but only myself that I could have
      been---

what a way a whole built life to tarnish,
although everything in it we cherish!

the distance seems final which now
     bears us apart,
yet you thrive glowing day and night
     through my heart.

alas of late!  mine's not been with calm
     and ease,
although i struggle, and seek in vain,
     for a  just release:

wearily clinging to mere scenes in
     remembrance
of love, and joy , days of brilliance--

yet yesterday is farther than tomorrow,
no use then to be stuck with mere sorrow,

and time is lent to you by hand of  death,
all you say and do is so scribbled from
           birth;

what a world  for all hope we live in--
knowing that all'd be destroyed which
             we ever begin!

                                        -by
                             Hakim H. Kassim.
                           (d. March 16, 2025)