Wild wishes, too high for worldly tries,
  Celestial glows that do not fit into Time
          and Place,
Lost love's tormented hopes and  cries,
  Come with fresh face at my dooryard.

Wild wishes, desires  that cannot be
         quenched in poor world's weak
             arms,
  Joys treading my footsteps from Heaven
        above,
  All my loves long ago, my sweet
        heart-felt urges,
Of all I ever seek, of all I ever wanted
         in heart,
Beckon to lead me to Higher Houses of
         content.

  Wild wishes, her face, her eyes, and the
         love I have for her,
FeelingsI cannot put aside no matter
       what,
The deep-felt dream of uniting with her
        in truth,
She comes to me riding high on Wild
       Wishes for my hand!

Lovers that apart
   might
Reclaim their
   mastery over

Their wry hearts
   again,
And with
   pretentious smile

Might mask their
    wounds.
But you, lovel who
     departed

To sleep under the
   quiet grass,
That you may in
    solitude find

The peace with earth
         divorced,
Left me alone, a
    
broken  heart:

Our promise of yore
   is now no more!
Nor can my
   weakened spirit
      peace attain,

Nor can
   remembered love
      bring me relief;
Nor can gloom offer
    me release,

Nor to any distraction give
         myself;
By divine chance we
    happily met,

And by divine plan
   we're now apart,
As this year's grief
   teaches me in
      truth:

Consider the death
    of one so loved,
Merely such love's
    polite recusal!
   -by Hakim Kassim.
  NOTE: This poem, "Requiem," was made in honor of my father, Dr. Hussein S. A. S. Kassim, written soon after his death in March of 1994.

hot.
humid.
dream in the dark.
wet thoughts.
drowsy nightingales.
hemingway's tight-tongued
     heroes.
summer shower.
july miracle:
do we mistake love for lust?    
     -by Hakim H. Kassim.

dust.
crowds.
rain.
'asc?' voice of a
   young girl--
belated
   recognition.
summer at end.
smile.
love-laden look.
silence--
of promises
  scribbled inside.
hope.
heart.
thought.
walking home!
a world without
   end.
-by Hakim Kassim.
(Sept.04.2016)

Beauty of the
  world, don't we
    so belong?
Say--oh, say it to
  my beating
    heart!
Or, if in too much
  nerve you can't,
Just jump, jump
  onto me so fast!

Angel in spring,
  don't you see
    my heart torn
      wide open,
Unable with life's
  turmoil tocope--
A living
  testimony of the
      ways
By which one
  finger alone
   doesn't wash a
     face!

Eyes I saw full of me,
Blue, or brown,
   these now pass by
      me,
The lore of Love thus
       defined
Remains unspoken,
   though refined:
To where is he gone,
    she in muttering
       tone asks;
We've left so much
    for the WASPS;
Now, retreated for
    God's sake,
Where can I, for her,
    make the bake?
For us, for Love,
    where to rest and
        reign?
To escape all of
   pain? 
Hello, God, hello
   Saints,
We're your guests,
    should we have to
       pay our lives
          with rents?

"To part at last
     without kiss,
 Beside the haystack
      in the floods."
        -William Morris.

I cannot give you
   reasons enough,
I do not myself
   understand

The loud lover,
     praying in sin,
Or the pain of those
     who sin in prayer.

A good-bye hurts a
    hundred times more,
Emptying the soul,
    embittering the heart,

Much more than a fatal
   spearwound would.
The happy love is flown,
    a by-gone glow;

Locked in memory's
    gloomy corridors;
A mere past, life
   imprisoned in grief;

Robbed of fulfillment,
    future condemned
      to tears,
Gazing sadly over the
   prey of previous
     existence.

A good-bye hurts.