(for Muhubo Ali-Nur)
LOVE.
morning breeze.
the world at ease.
cordial days–
onward, in blessed ways.
your future in another.
wanting to be together.
. . .wishing on a star?
oh, in love we are!
trusting the unknown future–
for with desire we act mature.
will there be a broken heart?
we’ll never be apart!
for keeps, forever:
to fall out? never.
my idea of the pure?
well, she’s my only lure.
eclipses in soul,
for time’s no one’s fool.
so much good with the good–
so much good above mind and mood!
Born in Mogadishu, Somalia, the poet was raised in a politically prominent family; yet in his early teens, the poet and his family emigrated to the United States, where the poet lived for nearly two decades. The poet now lives in his land of birth and works as a freelance journalist and writer. He feels a particular attachment to John Keats and Percy Shelley for their vehement opposition to the inhumane effects on ordinary people such as the consequences of industrial development in their lifetimes–and reminds us that technological progress today does the same: ‘Weep, for the world is wrong!’ (Percy Shelley, “Dirge”)