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 ours 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.

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)

('finalized' version)

           -Over My Grave.

     "I know  not what I could have
                        been, but feel
       I am not what I should be--let it end."
                                                 -Lord Byron
         (to my sister, Fowsia)

Let there be no pretense to sadness,
       or  mourning in vain
Over this my humble grave---my
       long-lost home where at last I
           return
To---where all content lived before
      ambition drove us all insane,
For it's been this grave  I deeply yearn:
I'll care little to cherish, if I could,
       beyond this my very grave,
So much of loss and sorrow has
       been my lot,  the pain undue,
And this world, to me,  has been too
      cold to care, with nothing ultimately
         to save;
From the wealthy trouble undue,
      from the tender-hearted love untrue:
I've seen 'the wise' gather and rule
       perforce
For a tyrant-prince---a dishonest
       man without clue or conscience
Stubbornly pursue to **** his own
       wife,  even after divorce;
Insisting it's of a high 'state need'--so
        atrocious;
No, I'm glad to be home, dear sister,
        to my  sweet nature:
Glad,  glad to awaken at last, glad
        that an unkind world leaves me
           to my dream;
Done, done away with  fast-fading world
      with foredoomed pretense to love and
          adventure;
Glad to awaken from childish
      nightmare, again to be  a real Hakim.

                                           -by
                                 Hakim H. Kassim.
                                 (March 03, 2025/Jigjiga)

Too many gave deeply thought,
  Too many have come and gone,
Too many in dreams truly sought,
  For you to have it lost or won.

Too many climb-up their dreams light
  If only too fast they're washed ashore--
Or left out to be 'acquinted with the
          night,'
With no second chance, beaten to the
          core.

And too many have put their hearts with
         trust
  In brute, brute another's heart,
In the end with no love but driven to
        dust--
  Having foregone any chance to restart.

For too many fail of us to give another
  Try, too readily to treat with hate
The lover with whom they felt together:
  For too many of us lose lest we cannot
         await.

                            -by Hakim H. Kassim.

2025.
a new year dawned casual and high,
but  that  I felt a sullen note of good-bye,

embellished with a truer joy than the
     whole world
could give,  yet I saw we took another
      year for granted despite this cold

lonely world,  and as others went 'happy'
     around with balloons decorous,
nature slip me into a new turn all
     anonymous;

and so all welcomed a new year, smiles
     flowery,
while I was beginning to negotiate an
      end of journey--

isn't a true joy, then, that year anew
with 2025 come with adieu and final
        end?

                      -by Hakim Kassim
                       (Jan.25.2025/Jgjga)

(for  Agere)

for your casual caresses, to soothe
the daily tread , and make smooth

this cold, cold world for poor soul of me;
for that ever-ready smile that drives me

on by the hour; that look in your eyes,
and for that knowing touch that sways
      away all my 'whys;'

for Time and Space which only draw us
          together
and for all the reasons that make us
          see one  in the other:

I'm thankful to all Nature and Chance
to keep us in that moment that saw us
         together at once.

                    -by Hakim H. Kassim.
                       (May 19, 2025)

This is what happens when your own
         past--
Twisting and turning with you at some
         midnight hour-
  Becomes you, all over again at once,
          all too fast,
Overlapping you,  heart and soul,
          strenuous in power;
   Precious memories posted in
         unchartered  future;
Each note of thought  wearily clings, too
         often
  But a scene with  yourself,  demanding
         an answer,
Yet within past  content, drifting you to
         give-in, just to soften
  The unintelligable  trail, past wishes
         revived in ardor:
For, without  pain of the past, can
        there be possibility of  a future?

            
                                       -by
                          HAKIM H. KASSIM.
                           (d. March 25, 2024)

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  Allah's sake,
Where can I, for her,  make the bake?
  Nor for love, where to rest and reign--
To escape all of pain?  Ya. RABBI, hello,
            and Your saints,
Yes, we're your guests--
  Should we have to pay for our souls,
So exploited within these walls?

                        -by Hakim H. Kassim.

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,
Feelings I 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!

                                                 -by
                                     Hakim H. Kassim.

There's no other to  grieve your lost hope,
   It's for you to face and cope;
With life's various despairs by yourself
         alone,
And alone must, wrestle  and have it won;
Family would smile with you but for a
        moment,
And no friend could vouchsafe for you
       on Day of Judgement;
For so many will come 'round you for
       embrace,
Yet on your own you must ride on life's
       every chase;
Though we rejoice in hope on every new
       morrow,
One couldn't care less for his own
       brother's sorrow!
    
                                         -by
                              Hakim H. Kassim.  
                        (d.September 21, 2024)

(for huda)
you don't care to remember yesterday--
even if you were the one who took the
          wrong way--

just to say you're "sorry," and make your
          peace,
for we'd then get-off on a new plate with
         some ease;

where's your conscience? aren't you for a
         minute sane?
you used shout at me with all your false
         complaint--

never caring to listen, too often baking
        my heart so sore,
till you at last broke our bond, and more!

--ah, how patient and quiet i bore your
         abuse,
for you then were after money,
         and  without excuse--

determined as i then was, wanting to
         keep us together
as a family, soon to be a father and a
        mother;

there you're with false tears, and false
        argument all the same;
humbled,  i ignored who's right and who
        not, taking all the blame,

you didn't care to listen but ran  away
       with your  "cousins" in team,
and i was left bitter alone, just to moan
       and  ponder over broken dream:

and tonight you come, seven years to this
       day,
imploring with  pleas of love, not to delay

a love,  a you gone years ago: if i accept
you now anyway, how wouldn't it be
       down again swept?

              
                         -by Hakim H. Kassim.
                         (September 11, 2024)

-YOU.

the morning-sun glows in a Promise so
      celestial,
over your tender face, a soul too dear, too
      adorable

for this world  (of envy and hate) itself to
       astound
over  you--a Beauty, never seen or heard
       around;

reflecting in seductive rays across your
      face, with me stricken with your
          gleam,
your heavenly charms which I only fancy
     in my best dream--

that lip that I'd not tire of kissing but in
     my wishful unrest,
and those ******* I long for beyond what
    can be expressed;

a willing prisoner, I'm lost in the mystery
    of your eyes,
and not with my hand, but with all my
    heart I  glimpse your thighs;

your quiet, indifferent airs, your smile
arresting me in heart for longer than a
     while---

remembering, like seeing, you easily
     drives me  most lonely--
of all women, for Beauty aren't you
     the one and only?

                              -by Hakim Kassim.
                             (d. September 03, 2024)

Come winds, from afar and and near,
Charge, waters of the  world,  to sweep
Tyrants out who use  humble fellows with
           no care
In corporate classes,  for profit to reap!

Oh, how false and  mad-lived is this!
Trading their human  nature for only
          dollar  in truth,
And despite what the  mind urges to
          enlist---
Love, and Care, fraternal hope for youth!

To where is wisdom  gone, does any one
           know?
Will Corporation  give care and love?
It's false for other than Allah to bow:
Will dollar keep them out of  the  grave
          and above?
              
                         -by Hakim H. Kassim.
                           (July 15, 2015)

Eyes I saw full of me,
I search around, yet cannot  see;
  In the tumult and the dark,
I remain stuck with their mark;
  I have forfeited hope and  health,
I seek nor fame nor wealth--
  For I well know all only  fleet,
nor Care nor Love to meet!.
                    
                             -by Hakim H. Kassim.

I am he who through that long November
       night
Watched your eyes with untamed delight,
Earnestly travelling into the mystery of
      your mind;
In the highnoon of heart we heard and
      spoke the same notes;
I am he who once held you in willing
       arms,
Unknitting wells  of passion beneath
       your heart;
I am he who wrote a Writ with you,
Sowing in your heart a Promise not to
      break the shared bond;
I am he who, in trust of  love, am a voice
     echoing in the skies;
 Faithed, in a leap for your love, and your
        hand, and that look in your eyes;        
The sea here sheds tears as it the earth
        crushes,
The shore beside me pains as water race
       back to their depths,
And I am he who with confused past
      shares the anguish of the sea.
Farewell!
And now I turnto be living with your
      memory, without blaming fate.

                                                -by
                                     Hakim H.  Kassim.

".  . . without hope change  
            In sleep she seemed to  walk
                   forlorn."
                           -(fro) Tennyson's   (poem)  
                            "Mariana" (1830).
     (for Diana, who inspired the poem
      in  visionary gleam)

And so you came  loaded with  lament
   Of  all the world  aflame in your  eyes,
           so calm and wide,
Grieving perhaps  over 'might-have-
           beens,'  yet with intent--
   Sorrow the kind  that had no home but
          with  restraint in  pride,
A kind that made  you not weak but
         aweary  by  adverse  tide;
  Then sat yourself  before me in  quiet
          unease,  sweet  mournful,
 Letting go of all you truly are,  all you
          could  really  do--
So much lost to  an unfair world  that
          neither  revered the beautiful,
  Nor shielded  the weak  from its
          cruel  cold! a world  that had no
               chance for  you--
An indifferent  world that never knew
          you for real,  for true.

                          -by Hakim Kassim.
                           (d. Dec. 14. 2021)

(to Amal)
Musical Child of May, spirit fierce  and
                   fair!
  Born to Spring when the cricket cheers,
                   or
Drowsy nightingale weeps in melody, to
                  beget
  A new breed that in future glory may
                  rhyme--
Here to the twenty, and a thousand to
                  come,
  Of all your soft and moon-lit mid-May
                  eves.
Strange how much change the passing
                  day reveals,
  Stranger yet how your heart, sweet
                  child, stays  in love; ever-truer,
Blind to what was or will be said. Glow!
   MayChild of that immortal season,  
                  ancient friend
To Hyades that forever mourn and weep
                  for their slain.
  Pray, MayChild, to lift a lowered world
                 up to a higher ground:
Pray for Mulki, avid, able, so full of life,
  And for him who from womb to tomb
                 trod his way too soon;
Pray for Leyla, hostage to a future
                 brighter than can be said,
  And for this one, humbled and defiant if
                 broken they say;
Pray for Ilham, a beauty that will burn
                another Troy,
  And for Kamal, princely and tall and to
                reign;
Pray for Fatah, to whom Allah left
               enlightening common minds,
  And for Sahardid, gifted with what for
               so many in envy crave;
Pray for Guled, made of the rare,  born
               for the  best;
Pray, MayChild, for mean and  hateful
               were not  said of you--
   Pray for us now and at the hour of our
               birth!
Tender  Star of May, beauty  blessed
               before her birth!
  Rich and loyal in  love, as  some are not,
Forget not: the ways of the are not those
               of  love:
  In a rugged world where  brutes tread
               their  petty ways of hate,
They break the heart that  shows love in
               full faith;
Venus, who versed you well in perfumed
             gardens of Spring,
  Knew that men's promise and trust
             vanish with the fleeting hour:
Consider Echo who, for love sincere,
             became  but a faint voice--
  Consider one might not be so loved by
             whom one loves so deep!
                                                           ­           
                                -by Hakim H. Kassim.
                                 (d. May 15, 1993)

No, I do not, cannot hope to bear,
 I would not summon my soul once again,
To be serious in love, and care and dare
To wear its colors and expect to remain
       sane;
For my heart, any heart! can be 'moved'
       only once!
Thus no more,  my dear,  I do not care to
       go that way--
To suffer woes in needless hope without
       excuse,
For how should I hope every night and
       day
To "own" another whom I met by
        mere chance?
So you may thus remain 'in -love' or
       'indifferent,'  as you please!
                      
                                  ­       -by
                               Hakim H. Kassim.
                             (d. January 30, 2024)

(for Khadija Abukar)

already you're in my my mind, more than
         a friend,

i met you hustled  and felt tender call of
        soul, yet find myself in wonder,

my heart leaps up at the sound of your
         voice, as if  i'm abound;

though far away apart by oceans,  my
          soul mingles,  high emotions,

and from day's toil comes to seem
          relaxed, at home in my dream
             where every night i meet you,
with the Light that'll save, too--

for it's been as we met, and is, true in
     stars that you may as well are
        the Promise;

you easily sit by me and soften
this poor soul of mine, which often

finds himself too much lost in your eyes,
and thinking of you, all the 'whys'

in my mind of this cold, cold world,
simply disappear,  leaving me bold

enough in my heart to dare cope
with whatever--for there's with you hope:

everything is happily open in the future,
only if you and I will act mature!

                                               -by
                                     Hakim H.  Kassim.

fatigued hope
weary steps.
ultimates--
   in surplus
" . . .do what's right."
dreams discarded.
times tried.
keys found.
years lost.
casts made,
casts kept:
hearts broken.
lengths paced.
parts on a limb.
"do as good men would!"
omens and murky sighs.
time will draw-in soon--
future becomes yesterday
where are you?
where, the dreams . . .
.  . . your paved face?

                                            -by
                                Hakim H. Kassim.
                               (d. November 07, 2017)

Gorgeous eyes to soothe,
I see in you a heart of  truth;
TENA, you're already more than a friend-
For all day today, you were on my mind!
A fresh face, touched with rare grace;
From deep within your eyes and face,
Sweet girl, answer for me all possible  
     whys:
Why should I seek  another--
Yes, I just want us together!
              
                                       -by
                             Hakim H. Kassim.
                            (d. January 12, 2019)
                            /Jigjjiga.

THE PROPOSAL- (1).

just lost in your eyes,
for they are the answer to my whys!;
day and night, it's for you my soul weeps,
and  my poor heart for yours pleads,
for I love you so, by the exreme,
seeing well we belong to the same
       stream:
so between your ******* let me thrive,
there to rejoice in all love and life!
i do not mean less than for keeps
for my heart numbs at the mention of
       your  name,
O Love true & deep.

                                          -by
            ­                  Hakim H. Kassim.
                              (d..September 23, 2018)

the future,
an open voucher.
"son, it'll all be well:"
something wise to tell!
borrowings from the dark--
unexpected emotions to embark.
hefty hopes,
but only present moment copes.
foresight in eyes
means mind in sighs.
his son's point opposes,
trust in dad crosses.
in sound judgement?
not positive in movement!
felt brokenness,
betrayed and bitterness.
hate gave way to anger.
a loose hanger.
quite a weight to borrow,
so much in needless sorrow.
get a gun on the street--
"get to go on that beat!"
all's been the seeds
of murderous deeds.
counsel of possibility?
his was only blood in actuality.
a late fall evening,
and a clear sky with no meaning:
'tabula rasa of my own--
sailing to the unknown:
the morrow as a by-gone,
why, ride the bull by the horn!'
feverish turn.
partying with her you burn.
armies on the go.
none but their own to bow.
the goal straight--crowned,
what can go wrong?
dissipated dreams.
blood in streams.
foggy night grab the gun.
shot dad in the head and ran.
'unreal city!'
thought he's good and witty.
familiarity is a creed.
murdering your dad is not a treat.
in the mind lingers the stain.
hate'll deface your brain.
denial would be lonely grief.
regret will tarnish you like a falling leaf.
treasury to inherit now becomes but a
        waif:
how does a sweet past vouchsafe?


                                          -by
                             Hakim H. Kassim.

MEMORIES.

where there's no one,
i rejoice a whole world!

with nothing on the ground,
i hear but love in sound;

with nothing to see in eyes,
i alone enjoy green fields;

when there's for me no beat
gabriel lends his hand to complete;

smiling faces by me stand,
eager to hold me in hand;

all i've is not today's world:
for i find new joy in the old.

for all my joy there's but one place
      where i run, time and again.
where i play in its blessed rain.

there i never fee alone--
but feel, know i am the one.

alot of me ftom today is left kept and hid,
for so much of me there is lit!

not a thing for me is vain,
what a world of  joy to gain:

for there i no more grieve.
there is but joy to weave--

not anymore for me to miss,
all joy is mine at will, this!

                                         -by
                            Hakim H. Kassim.
                            (d. June 08, 201)
                            /-Jigjiga.

I see it glowing in your eye, so new,
  And on those hips of yours, tender
         and lean,
Hosting Beauty in all its breadth and
         depth, I see the dew
  Of a new dawn in my heart and soul, to
         win
A new horizon  abrim with joy and
        with you lived in peace;
  Like Aurora in early-dawn mist
        carrying those 'milky thighs' that
            forever men's hearts deem
  To beat too fast, speechless in the quiet
         utter loss
In truelove's holy light, unable to awake,
         or dream
  And so is my heart in your  palms,
         whatever you say, wherever you go,
No words can express what in my heart
         wanes,
  What feelings, what thoughts, what
         hopes in want--
Nor how to your ignorance I cannot
        explain my pains,
  What with your love I see and know,
        you just can't
Imagine in your best mind, all things
        being equal:
  Of Joy, and Love,  and all in holy light
Of truelove; but alas! as theirs is a cry
       without content,
  The moth and the star, so truelove for
       you will only be dream of night,
Never to breathe daylight,  never to live
      what was meant
  With Joy, unconditioned love with no
       second-thoughts;
Your "Hi," said with a tremble of soul,
     with a defensive smile,
  Still self-conscious-- treading with
       needless pain,
Worries about tomorrows over which
        you hardly control for even a while,
  And second- thoughts that in our love
        you cannot explain,
Though in your mind you sport it--
        where's the joy of love you're
              supposed to  live, anyway?
                  

                                     ­          -by
                                   Hakim H. Kassim.
                                  (d. July 31, 2023)
                                   /- Jigjiga.

(for Muhubo Ali-Nur)

LOVE.

morning breeze.
the world at ease.

cordial days--
onward, in blessed ways.

your future in another.
wanting to be together.

. . .wishing on a star?
oh, in love we are!

trusting the unknown future--
for with desire we act mature.

will there be a broken heart?
we'll never be apart!

for keeps, forever:
to fall out? never.

my idea of the pure?
well, she's my only lure.

eclipses in soul,
for time's no one's fool.

so much goedwith the  good--
so much good above mind and mood!

            
                                             -by 
                                 Hakim H. Kassim.
                                (June 08, 2017)
                                /-jigjiga.

LOVE LOST-1.

alone you had for me the words to soothe,
you alone could touch my heart in truth--

i remember first you  kissed without a
          sigh,
and that answered for me any possible
          why;

you called-out to my soul for home,
and i then sought myself no longer to
          roam,

and ever since then i find you close and
          dear,
never too far away, you were always
          near:

no more! for you're on my lap no more!
          no more!
so much alone here's sickening and sore!

in the bleak December eve dark with
         wintry  breeze,
in my only thought are but images of you
         grasping, to caress ---

over the fire in my heart,  O! dream that
         never was, as i in my mind fall into
              unquiet pose:

a willing casualty in anticipated dream
         that, with me, has become but a soul
              in stream--

of tears, of pain and love, of you,
stark reality, an ever-flowing end too!
             
                                          ­  -by
                                Hakim H. Kassim.
                                (d. 2021)

TO HER I BELONG.

silence on lips,
in heart it all kills!

real love calms and grows--
like a well-nurtured rose,

ever-blooming  through the years,
never stained by doubt and fears.

here she loves and cannot give her hand,
I'm in deep need forsomeone to
      understand:

you're always on my mind!'
I've nothing left to lose behind---

all and only to gain you is before me:
God, would that it were left as it would
       be!

                                           -by
                               Hakim H. Kassim.
                               (d.Sept.23.2018)

The library girl

Sits alone, absorbed in ghostly in ghostly
      ancient Greeks--
In the deathless thoughts of what once
      was
Passionate Sappho or truthful Sophocles;

Trying  tirelessly to chaunt their
       language,
To revive their gleam out of dry pages,
For long hours devoting to get back, back
       to them,
As she finally falls asleep in her
       exhaustion;

A homage is paid to the old 'Glory' in nap
       meditation,
And as this heavenly beauty travels
       through history's clock,
Safe in library warmth from the
       discomfort of winter snow,


The desk-lamp twinkles: It's time to go!
                

                                           ­     by
                                  Hakim H. Kassim.
                                 (d. November, 1989)

My love is as much as ocean,
  My vision as deep  and true,
My intent in holy name of devotion;
  Mine for keeps cast on ocean's blue!
          
                                          -by
                                  Hakim Kassim.
                                 (-d. June 29, 2023
                                /Jigjiga).

slightly expectant--
loosely hopeful,
investing in process.
slow.
hopes indefinite.
inversions--in heart.
reflection--in motion.
the  core--in a passing smile.
future is had.
raindrops.
evening walk.
lone self.
imaginings.
her exact look?
... heavenly eyes?
a world in balance.
thoughtfulness.
patience.
waiting, but why?
open hand,
a palm in need!
on my own, what?
love, and thought.

                                                -by
                                     Hakim H. Kassim.
                                      (d. Auguat, 2018)

(to  NAH_)

-REAL LOVE.

i see it all over and  with you,
all i ever needed and want, love so true;

i see it in your eyes all aflame-
looking at you, inside I cannot  remain
      the same;

maybe minds, Dearest,  but hearts know
      not how to lie,
and so, Beloved, so revered, I just
      wouldn't talk by

to My heart's  Beloved,  not to  you,
i know language of  heart is true, sweet,
      holy and so true--

let's rejoice that we finally found one
       another;
for you and me, Dearest, there's no
       other.
  
                                              -by
                                    Hakim H. Kassim.
                                    (-d. July 19, 2023)
                                    /-Jigjiga.

Jigjiga.

bygone pleasures.
outside,
looking in.
insistences.
cold January.
missing link.
battling shore.
windy evenings.
no point trying for it now.
summer is not close.
i nor love nor hate as such--
our love IS more than that:
i am used to Jigjiga!
                                       -by
                              Hakim Kassim.

You would not be,
You could not be,
Without drawing me
Into you 'mood,' on anything  yours,
******* me around  just for  the heck to
        see!

  And carry  me close--your 'loved' son
For whom you wanted to be the one
In charge and in your seat after you're
         gone;
And so I laid all else aside, faithful to your
         call,
So heard your word alone, and only at
         your nod had it done!

  Then you were nightly fed with evil
         misunderstanding,
As loving hearts too often are prone to
         slipping
On malicious dice cast by envious others,
         like 'echoes travelling
From the center like horses' wildly let
         loose--
Ah, and the brother who so wept to you
         over my  sorrowing!

  I was mistaken---
As one of them days I had to awaken
Just to learn that you were taken
In death, and left a denial of my little
        rightful due:
'A will' contradicting the Qur'an, with
       father's love  proven false and
            forsaken!

  How night and day I stood by you and
          more, a willing sacrifise
At your fingertips, no question devoted
          without lies,
Deferential, tireless---surest among your
           ties,
I lived entire years suffering, accepting
Blame for anything that came to your
         mind without asking 'whys .'

  They who put false love in token arms
Around your deluded dying head with
       seeming charms,
And falsely called whatever words you
       uttered 'perfect and wise'--
Who led you to deviate from Allah's Holy
       Word
And thus corrupt your love as a father,
       and so die in foresaken esteem--

  Came 'round your coffin the day you
       died, perchance
To lift their heads up boldly, and with
       your 'will' in hand trace
Every bit of everything that ever
       belonged to you--at once
A final heartbreak showing that
       together we didn't belong in spirit,
And that love, like me, was to you a mere
        pastime albeit parental disguise!

                                         -by
                                 Hakim H. Kassim.
                                 (December 18, 2021)
                                 /-Jigjiga.

autumn.
dreams, into ideas.
windy eves.
the far-away look.
tree-leaves.
dark eves.
wuthering heights.
firewoods.
a world in the yellow.
release.
warmth.
quiet.
intimacy.
looking.
time off.
promises anew.
'we'll see.'
                                         -by
                             Hakim H. Kassim.

It waves hard, like
  An ordeal of times past;
Irresistible, it wears down
 Wilfully mortal endurance;
It worries, like summer sky,
  Setting the soul breathless;
In woeful tone the moth
  Haplessly weeps to stars far above;
Longing, infinite and vain,
   Furnishes the mood inside;
Outside, nighingale still
  Sings through the vacant autumn  sky.
                      
                                       -b­y
                             Hakim H. Kassim.

We call each other by names,
In fact all just rolls on and on without
        aims---
Just the routine heat of our daily 'talk;'
If it then be that we in harmony no more
       'walk,'

Nor with joy together quietly rejoice,
Then, though it troubles me inside, yet
        I've no choice

But to leave you, dearest, unattended
By the passion I've borne for you,
       alone uncontented:

Let me to injustice be done,
Than do it myself--from which in heart I
        shun.
                                               -by
                                   Hakim H. Kassim.
                                  (d. November 25, 1991)

flight,
light.
change. . .'plse!
plse understand!'
hindsight,
through the night.
no love lost,
'america' divorced.
'america' contorted
   me--glad i'm deported.
the devil'll come out of america, yes,
            ask me, I'll attest.'

                  -by Hakim Kassim.
                   (June, 2023)

(for my wife, Huda Hassan Osman)

  As on the wings of time I fly,
And pass over the years with no sigh,
  Winning and losing with no cry,
This prayer I make in all try:

  That I lose not your face night and day,
And find you by my side all the way,
  Then come what come may,
I shall have kept all gloom at bay.

                                           -by
                                  Hakim H. Kassim.
                                  (d. August 5, 2017)

New spring wind, a cold  sick fate
  For me that I've not seen you for years,
Though I loved, and still do, forever
             in-wait-
 Ah! that you  come but to quiet these
            my lonely tears;
I need you now more than before,
  Spring may come, and  summer follow
           with joy and laugher,
Something without you is broken at my
           core,
We parted, a long time has passed,  I've
          not been alive after
  I've come to see your smile no more, no
          more kiss
On your lips, that sound of your voice--
         are you not now dead,
  And where are you if alive, where's all,
         the love and promise,
So much time without you, our years are
         closing-in, soon to be led
  To sudden goodbyes, then the eerie
         silence of lonely graves
   Where we cannot meet,
O me--was that "all" Love gives?
         
                                        -by
                            Hakim H.Kassim.
                            (d. May 01,2023)

i've not been  given a chance.
to speak out my  mind,
let alone pour  out my  soul at once;
i 'm still seeking a way  to bind
wound i suffered that remain tense,
on myself and on others i love,
forever vivid and true  in real sense--
a surreal weight over my soul unwilling
         to move.

                                             -by
                                   Hakim H. Kassim.
                                  (d. March 01, 2023)
                                   /-Jigjiga.

nods, gracious,
quiet harmonious.

reborn gleam?
recalling the  dream.

wanting . . .
feeling. . .  . .

siezed in wonder,
left to ponder.

sound  in  melody:
some  sign--suddenly!

no, don't be too curious,
it'll leave you serious!

heart cries,
time flies---

mind tries,
the eye sighs--:

words over ocean---
hope in motion.

truly harmless,
not a license for happiness.

look deep down,  inside,
beyond bounds of pride:

'no more excuses,'
the poetic mind muses,

my hand grabs  your thigh,
but you left without a 'bye,'

ah-and to where 'lost?'
when I  need you  most?
     
                                              -by
                                  Hakim H. Kassim.
                                 (d.January 25.2022)
                                  /-Jigjiga.

But the bonds of birth, of life and its toils,
Planted by me Becoming, never Being,
To the bright hearts of those 'forever
         loves,'
Cherished by them, though glorified by
        me only,
Stand tall against my thought of trip.
Many a time have I sunk in deep thought,
Wet and trapped like a caught fish, in
        doubt,
Many a time have I heard my heart
        aloud!
The riches and rages Nature
        endowed  upon us,
And the laughs by Fate  at those who fail,
While hand in hand working together,
Reward each of us by  merits of known
         deeds:
Peace to him who persists in action,
To him poverty who rests in pestilent
        wealth--
For the world belongs to him who knows
        how!

                                           -by
                               Hakim H. Kassim.
                               (February, 1990)

(for Ifrah Osman Dahir)

The purposeful look,  a passing smile--
My eyes fixed at a whole world all the
       while--

A world of joy with your figure lean and
      smooth,
And what a world  you're for my cares
      to soothe;

By a sudden turn you  look at me with an
      amused frown,
Caught me off-guard, my eyes hushed for
       withdrawl:

Yet deep in me somewhere you caress
       and touch,
Speechless,, I'm lost in your lean figure  
     maybe to match--

For you're to me of that indelible Dew
      from Heaven:
No words need be  said, you're my
      beloved!

For I see scattered  across your face,
For which with fiery desire I yearn to
       gaze;

So if you sought to clasp a stretched
       caring hand,
I need you, with  my heart willing to
       understand;

Your rosy cheeks, though you seem
      not to care,
I have nothing to give but my heart---
      all and bare!

You seem somewhat weary with this
      indifferent,  this uncaring world:
Yet I envision you up and happy,  not as
      cold;

We never grow sick and tired of love,
Yet the unrest in your face sighs for
      a move

To come--the saving Knight on a
      Horseback:
Can I be the lucky guy no less the worse?
              
                                             -by
                                   Hakim H. Kassim.
                                  (-d.October 31, 2018)

Lovers that apart might
Reclaim their mastery over

Their wry hearts again,
And with pretentious smile

Might mask their wounds.
But you,  love! 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 remembered love bring me relief;
Nor doom nor gloom offer me release,

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

And by divine plan we 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 H. 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?   
or leave out the truth at price of loss? 
                
                                               -by
                                   Hakim H. Kassim.
                                   (c. September. 1988)

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 H. Kassim.
                             (September 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!

                                           -by
                             Hakim H. Kassim.

"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 spear-wound
         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.

                                             -by
                                  Hakim H. Kassim.
                                  (d. December 12, 1990)

snow-windy.
ice in raindrops.
hefty ventures.
brookner, anita:
latecomers '89.
thomasses,
just too many.
mind-plays.
churning hopes.
wrestle.
some way out.
'i did love her then!'
mind-quake.
regroup.
by-gones.
grave-yard stuff.
'oh, now: you & i.'


                                           -by
                               Hakim H. Kassim.
                                (d. August, 2016)