(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 Kassim.
      (d.January, 2000)