12.
upon majnuun’s last words
another silence fell
and in that silence
as-sayyid could feel a hot blade searing within
the tears exhausting themselves
his paternal instinct could not be restrained
he picked up the withered body of majnuun
to carry him away
although majnuun wished to free himself
the only resistance his body could offer
was a gasp and a sigh
with his servants
as-sayyid carried majnuun home
they nursed and cared for him, day and night
but to him,
he was surrounded by strangers
performing unwanted charity
even when childhood friends came to visit
to conjure up pleasant remembrances
he looked at them, aloof,
from the cocoon of his amnesia
therefore, it was no surprise
that when his strength returned days later
he fled like a ghost in the night
back to the desert
and as-sayyid,
immersed in midnight contemplation,
watched from a distance
as the madman wove through nocturnal shadows
the old man knew it was futile
to try to keep him there
against the pulls of destiny
so he let him go
while the father prayed for mercy
for what remained of his son
the self-orphaned one roamed aimlessly
across the treacherous desert terrain
from that point forth
he severed himself from the clan of amiir
to fully become majnuun
a clan of one
although burdened by the hardships
of solitary survival
he bore these in quest of the freedom to love
no longer restrained
his odes of love became more powerful
and when the moment sparked
he would ignite to recite
to the heavens his verses to layla
“her hands behold the seeds of paradise
in me let her touch be planted
her arms behold the ocean of life
let me drown therein
the breath of her chest alleviates all pain
may my bleeding head find refuge thither
her legs serve the indescribable mercy
of carrying such beauty
upon this wanting earth
her feet are petals of the finest roses
i kiss the ground wherever they have trod
her neck, a narrow gateway to the highest heaven
her lips, doorways to euphoria
her nose inhales from me all reason and patience
and in the sight of her eyes
i die and die and die again
welcoming the veiling of her hair
to be my sacred coffin
“only her night my wakefulness seeks
and if she were not to exist
my madness would happily dream
her into existence
“i am majnuun for layla
a madness for which
she is the only cure”
one man overhearing these words
said,
“even if he is insane
his poetry is not
even if his behavior is a shame to his clan,
to humanity,
a travesty worthy of the sword
yet still
there is nothing shameful or unworthy
about his verses
and the devotion from which they spring
“i will continue
to come out to these mountains
to witness this rare beauty
for myself”
and come they did
he and a host of others
if only to hear the echoes of odes
proclaimed aloud by an unseen madman
singing of love
his verses sometimes raging in yells and shouts
to attentive hungry ears
some wrote down the words
others memorized them
to share these oral gems with an audience abroad
such was the force of love in these verses
a force carried by the people beyond
the mountain heights
to the farthest reaches of the sun’s light
and the moon’s shadows twirling upon this earth
moving people not only to tears
but even some to surrender to
the hardships of love’s calling
❍ ● ❍