Ajwah

My Lord, send forth Your Prayers and Peace
And Blessings on those hands
That pressed the saplings of release
Into submitting sands,

And like the spring abundant flowed
Beneath his father's heel,
You've blessed these palms that his palms sowed;
This son of Isma'eel

And all of matter he did touch,
And all that he did say,
Proclaim the highest Truth with such
Serenity, I pray:

My Lord, increase the ones who tend,
And buy and sell and touch
The ajwah palms that well extend
The fruit we love so much;

My Lord, increase my host who gives
Me so much from his share
Of barakah that lives and lives
As long as you declare.

The Fewston Reservoirs

I am in beautiful Leeds visiting with my brother, and enjoying the English countryside. Today, I accompanied my brother and my lovely nieces to The Fewston Reservoirs. We each got an ice cream cone/bar and hiked through the trails. I can't explain how beautiful this place is. I was compelled to write a little something about it all.

The swirling, moisture canopies
That speckle blue vanilla skies,
The honeysuckle-scented breeze
That, definition, well defies,

The bashful bluebells bowing low
Along the chocolate marshy sands
Where Otley and her sisters flow
To flush these lush West Yorkshire lands.

I'll miss the Fewston Reservoirs
For more than what I've said above,
They soak my plains of memoirs
With drops of who and what I love.


(The 'vanilla' and 'chocolate' references were clearly a product of the quality ice cream we consumed on the hike :-)