● POETRY IN VOICE
A MODERN SALAWAT
By Nadia Irshād
New Paragraph
May peace be laid out for you RasoolAllah
Like a glass lake before a majestic mountain and long sequoia trees
May peace be laid out for you RasoolAllah
like a spread worthy of the King of all Kings
held up by lightning bugs and before a parade of Elephants as the sun rises
May peace be laid out for you RasoolAllah
like every blossom on every rose bush opening all at once
so much so that the cosmos vibrates with the sound of the pop
May peace be laid out for you RasoolAllah
like all the sweetness there ever was piled up into a great mound
that loves you like Mount Uhud and that feeds the heart of all our mothers
May peace be laid out for you RasoolAllah
like all the love that ever was collapses into itself and becomes an origami dove
that floats and flies in a skydance and bursts into millions of papyrus hoopoes
May peace be laid out for you RasoolAllah
so your every want and wish for this Nation and all peoples are quenched and multiplied
and peace, every single letter, is placed in the palm of your right hand
May all my love be laid out for you RasoolAllah
like an unquenchable ache that cannot be extinguished in this world
May it be written
May it be accepted and may our eyes frequent the green dome
