The Devil In His Studebaker

by Taufiq bin Abdul Khalid

Yeah, I have seen it all,
Heaven and Hell and back again,
You can read it on my face,
You can hear it in my song,
Heaven or Hell, and that same ol' refrain;
'I don’t know where I truly belong...'

Yeah, I have seen it all before,
The Good, the Bad and the downright Ugly,
But never you mind about me,
Do I even look worried?
So never you mind about me,
I am a fisherman on the River of Mercy.

And if one day, the Devil comes a callin’,
The Devil in his mean ol’ Studebaker,
I won’t take that ride, oh no I won’t,
For the Devil ain’t my muse,
He never was my musicmaker.

Yeah, I have seen it all before,
Angels sleeping on the doorsteps,
Begging for my dimes and dreams,
Knocking on my door looking like Lucille,
And I have always said, “Yeah, come on in, Lucille,
Come on in...”

So what are you waiting for?
Come in and play the Blues with me.
Get out of the cold, my brother,
The streets ain't no place to loiter,
For I can hear the Devil cruisin’ for souls,
Cruisin’ in his mean ol’ Studebaker,

84. If

by Taufiq bin Abdul Khalid

If I am made sightless,
I would still see You,
If I am made deaf,
I would still hear You,
If I am made armless,
I would still hold You,
If I am made lame,
I would still run to You,
If I am made with no eyes,
I would still cry for You,
If I am made mute,
I would still talk to You,
If I am made illiterate,
I would still write love letters to You,
If I am made senseless,
I would still make sense to You,
If I am made heartless,
I would still be in love with You.

Oh Lord! I am undone.

Political Scholars

by Taufiq bin Abdul Khalid

Political party of scholars
Who cry out for the Islamic State,
Are in truth, crying out for power,
Since they consider themselves
Most worthy to speak
On behalf of God.

That, dear sirs,
Entitles me to treat you
Like any other dodgy vote-grubbing
Baby-kissing politician,
And question you,
And critique you.

However sacred you think
The ballot box maybe…

1. Our Hearts do not deceive

by Taufiq bin Abdul Khalid

The morning did not awake,
Neither the sun nor the birds
Are up from their tired slumber,
Here, in bed, pressed
Against her skin,
The   night has not ended, and
The day is yet to begin,

It is not dawn that is
Setting alight the world,
But the light of her
Sightless breath,
Drawn from the glow of a
Lamp raised higher than
The seven heavens,
Brighter than our eyes can perceive,
Solace for those who seek and yearn,
Oh my love, my friend,
Believe!

176. Testicles

by Taufiq bin Abdul Khalid

Man,
A creature torn
Between the mystical
And the testicles.

66. Love That Has No Reasons

by Taufiq bin Abdul Khalid

Ya WADUD!
Lock my heart in love for Thee
With love that has no reasons
So my mind can never sway me
With words all wise but treason.

Lock my heart in love for Thee
With love that has no seasons
So neither snow nor sun in spring
Will steal me from my Loving King.

Lock my heart in love for Thee
And chain me to Your Ocean
Throw away the prison key
And take away my freedom.

Lock my heart in love for Thee
And make my soul Your Garden
Plant in me Your Jasmine Tree
With roots that reach Your Ocean.

Lock my heart in love for Thee
With love to awe this heathen
Make AHAD my beating heart
And make Ahmad my passion.

Twenty Seconds with God

by Taufiq bin Abdul Khalid,

One - and I am undone,

Two - then I thought of You,

Three - I said that wanted to be free,

Four - so You showed me the door,

Five - I was born and I am alive,

Six - I was fooled by my ego's many tricks,

Seven - So I turn to You, yearning for heaven,

Eight - Wishing o' Lord that I was dead,

Nine - And You answered, "You will return to Me when it is time.."

Ten - To which I reply, "O' Lord... But when?"

One - "When the moth returns to the Sun."

Two - "When you cease to think only of you."

Three - "When you stop climbing the money tree."

Four - "When you come knocking on My door."

Five - "When you find the Prophet's honey in his bee hive."

Six - "When you can fast weeks upon weeks."

Seven - "When you look for Me and not My heaven."

Eight - "When you serve the living and honour the dead."

Nine - "When you learn to be kind..."

Ten - "...And remember Me in any circumstance."

Two Arrows

by Taufiq bin Abdul Khalid

I was a wanderer,
Dissolute and mad,
Walking a hot and baking desert,
When passing through a gorge
I was suddenly ambushed.

First an arrow,
Which pierced my belly.
Then a second arrow,
Which pierced my heart
And kept me mad
But also blinded me.

For awhile I was in the dark
And I wandered still,
Until my feet tasted water,
Cool and gentle,
And my eyes opened
For the first time ever...

To find myself on the shore
Of a vast ocean.

Most Exalted of Muse

by Taufiq bin Abdul Khalid

If I can say one thing
With certainty to you,

Is that on this trip,
You shall always
Be entertained,
You shall always
Be regaled with
Sights and sounds
To inspire
Within you
A lifetime of
Prose, song
And stories.

For you are
Yearning for
Intimacies with
The Most Exalted
Of Muse!

How lucky
Are you!

I won’t stay to say goodbye

by Taufiq bin Abdul Khalid

O’ fear, you have long haunted me,
O’ failure, you have long dogged my steps,
O’ hate, you have long coloured by view,
O’ misery, you follow upon your brethren’s way
And often darken my day.

O’ envy, you tried to make me
An enemy of my brother,
O’ lust, you tried to make me
An exploiter of my sister,
O’ ego, you befriended all these bad things
And tried to convince me that
They are all my good friends.

O’ hubris, you have abused
My spiritual inheritance for
Your own corrupt ends!

Well, today I am going.
And I shan’t pause to say goodbye.
My Lord misses me and wants me home,
And there I shall be an apple
In my Beloved’s eye.

UNIVERSE AND HER EXTENDED KISSES

by Taufiq bin Abdul Khalid

I am the purveyor of words,
And my speciality is love.
In the morning, it is best
To talk of nothing else but Love,
And at night it is better
To make love, under the cover
Of twilight, doing God's work
As only a man and a woman can.

I think I will continue
To write about love
Until the cows come home,
Boiled some water,
Had some tea
And turned in
For the day.

I think I will continue
To write about love
Until Elvis reappears
To wriggle his hips.

I think I will continue
To pluck words from
The Universe which
Doesn't stop talking
To me about love,
She often tells me about
The birds and the bees,
God and the Prophet,
And what delights we may
Find in our private embraces
And extended kisses.

Someone bumped into
The amphora of light
leftover from the Angels' party
last night. It spilled over
The clouds and slipped into
My heart when I was
Not looking...

I could write all day, I think.
But I am still delighted
Playing the role of
A human being.

Hehehe.

Her Bamboo Grove

Taufiq bin Abdul Khalid

You tricked me,
Leading me deeper
And deeper into
Your bamboo grove.

It was not love
That drove me,
It was you.

And you are not love.

You swayed in the breeze,
Your stalks stood high,
Casting a shadow over my life
And over my overcast skies.

Your grove hid
A nest of snakes,
But I did not kill them,
For they were your pets.

And my very last thought
Was that of your face,

A vision of pain and grace,
Perishing as I did
In your everlasting embrace.

Truth is in a Pitcher

by Taufiq bin Abdul Khalid

Truth is in a pitcher,
And the pitcher is filled with honey,
It is on a table, in a tidy corner
Of a far-off cosmos,
Around the table, a host of angels
Drink ale and mead,
Beside them a saint plucks the strings of his harp
And set in motion, the ways,
The whys and the whatnots,
For a little mortal called me.
Between his dancing fingers,
Lies my life, in all its folly,
Though I am sober enough to say,
“Hail, Angels, hail!
Do yea not know
That wine is finer
Than mead or ale?"

50. Playing Chess with the Ego-Reason

by Taufiq bin Abdul Khalid

Cease thy endless jabbering,
Thy incessant prodding,

All thy surmise and complex opening
Now lie in pitiful ruin.
My King is open, my Rooks are dead,
And now I have lost the Queen,
Oh, reason, vain, damnable reason,
Thou art checkmate!

Woe that I ever paid thee any heed!
For thou claim thou knew,
When in truth, thou never bloody did.

36. Yes AND No

by Taufiq bin Abdul Khalid

Do not ask a Sufi anything,
For he will often reply;
Yes and No,
Do and Do Not,
Stay and Go,
And while it matters a lot,
It matters naught to God,

For many times,
He will perceive
What you really wish,
And will say that
Just to please.

For verily,
He will know your capacity,

And what value is truth
If you cannot bear it?

Rather than force you to disobedience,
He will send you on your merry way,
Thinking you have gained some wisdom,
When in truth, he gave you nothing,
But what you find pleasing.

Once a Boy

by Taufiq bin Abdul Khalid

Once a boy

I was once a boy,

And I came upon the shore of a mighty sea,

I tarried by her awhile,

But soon I grew scales and gills,

And swam in her depth, as a fish,

Then I sprouted wings,

Flying high across the sea,

Skimming over her waves,

As a seagull,

Later I turned into a fisherman,

Finding rich bounty in

Her deep blue mercy

To feed my family.

Finally I returned to the boy that I was,

And into the water I peered,

To see a reflection of myself

Looking back at me, and asking

“Who are you?”