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 to
             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 unintelligible
     trail, past wishes
        revived in ardor: For, without the pain
     of the past, can
        there be future?

            
                    -by
        Hakim H. Kassim.
      (d. March 25, 2024)

'Yet in the Dark!'
    Yet in the dark,
       alone in the dark!
There I hear the loud
     lonely bark
From hopes gone
    with many years,
Yesterday's passions
    dead with heavy
       tears;
The high-held dreams,
     long wont to roam--
The noisy joys that
     were my own--
Yet now I only see
     them there when
         alone
In the dark, in
     silence to moan,
And weak in word,
     yet high in heart,
Explain to the young
     boy I once was
        and now apart,
The tumult of time,
     the shade of years،
The unforgiving
     passage and of
       unshed tears!

"Je pense donc je
        suis."
         -Descartes, 1637

You'll never know,
Though forever
         wonder

Of the day of your
         feast!
It's an unknown
         moment

In the long annals
Of the Universe's
         clock;

And you blame
          things--
People, places,
         principles,

For not giving you
        enough,
Or not giving you at
        all.

In fact, you're to
       blame:
The sheep with the
    scar,

Cleaning out with
   naive acts
What might have
   been of use to you;

Your mind and body
   fight,
Fight, because that's
   all they do,

That's all they CAN
   know!
Ah, such Cartesian
   discovery:

One set against the
   other,
Without end or
   result;

For evermore, like
   ebb and flow;
Day and night, up
   and down.

Was Jesus the
   solving synthesis--
Sprite or Spirit? He
  came and left--sole
        individual!

Dualism yet persists,
   as before:
Keep reigning as
  King in your 'mind,'

Though to 'matter'
   you're
One among six
  billion hapless faces!
 
  -by Hakim Kassim.
  (d. November, 1988)