Until last night

I used to complain
calling our separation unfair
I used to be in rage with
this unjust universe
but when I saw you
as only a part of me
with that vision I went
soundly to sleep.

Jalaloddin Rumi

Year 35

His joy seizes and shakes my heart
membrane smiles with pain pulsing veins
where love once ran

all beauty has its curse
female energy that brings life
chokes my dry breasts
and crackles winter leaves with March winds

spring rains love the earth tonite
with cool damp smells
and fertile dreams
that disappear with desert clouds

inside I ache
for your eyes to love mine
and fingers and lips to soothe
my shattered dreams
I press your hand to my womb
hoping someday you will love me
without fear that leaves me half a woman
the way he loves her
and brought life to her.

Yasmeen Najmi

from "Ankh" © 2004 Yasmeen Najmi

Winter Solstice

Night air crept toward the Rio
A familiar lover seduced by pinks and grays
that lure me across crisp brown palettes
of Yerba mansa and salt grass
I find myself at water's edge
again asking forgiveness, wondering
if all this will survive
our good intentions
a duck gossiping on a distant sandbar
laughed loudly at my intellectual concerns
safe from Gulf War thunder
and squealing tires at a nearby Sonic drive-in
cold ripples tickle thorny branches
black wings caress solstice skies
unified travelers, my eyes contemplate their journey
then lower to human horizons
content in the mystery.

Yasmeen Najmi

From "Ankh" © 2004 Yasmeen Najmi

Perfect Shadow

You will be two, then three
I heard another voice speak to you
Through adrenaline beating my ears
For ten years
You were my perfect shadow

I smiled and shivered
You are not mine anymore
to hold in my box of failed love
and false destiny
That I opened when I needed proof
That he was not the one

A beautiful kite
I watched your colors vanish into cold blue light
You slipped from my hands
Or did I let you go?

Yasmeen Najmi

From "Ankh" © 2004 Yasmeen Najmi