Poetry: The Inevitable
Poetry: The Inevitable
by Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore
It's like practicing for death. No food or drink
during daylight hours no matter
what, in the
heat of summer or
cold of winter,
and no way out of it but through
sickness, pregnancy, menstruation, madness or travel.
So that
it's something that comes
inevitably each year, like it or not, whether or not
you've got a knack for it, and
some do, and love to fast, and
thrive on it, but
I do not, yet
each year it makes its visit, and year after
year it builds up to be a
sweet thing,
which makes it like death, the way it's
always on the
horizon, and an
absolute obligation, which must be
why Muslims often die well. They've had a
lifetime of Ramadans tenderizing them
for The Inevitable. And The
Inevitable surely comes.
From Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore’s collection of poems, published in Ramadan Sonnets. Please visit his wonderful site Ecstatic Exchange at http://ecstaticxchange.wordpress.com/ for many more poems. Also type his name in our TAM search engine to see poems and articles published over the years. See also Words on my life and poetry for more about the man and his work.