(for K. Briggs, Portsmouth)

             "All that ever was joyous
                   and clear and fresh,
             [your] music doth surpass "
                                       -Percy Shelley.

I do not know the  reason why
The world turns with me when you walk
         by,

With a thousand words scarred across
        your face,
Breaking down my defense with a casual
        gaze.

Morning or evening when you walk by,
My heart skips a beat,  lost in
       the 'you-and- I;'

With your light step a vivid link to
        a higher grace--
At a different time, at a different place!

Your eyes turn away as you pass, as if we
        were kidding one another,
As if no two were meant to be together!

You go your way,  leaving me lost and
        amazed:
So much said in so little expressed!
  
                                               -by
                                   Hakim H. Kassim.
                                  (d.January, 2000)