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.