In All Else, My Darkness Remains

“Men are haunted by the vastness of eternity,
and so we ask ourselves:
Will our actions echo across the centuries?” Odysseus (Troy)

My head’s been a boiling pot this week
Cooking Islam, tradition, and politics
See I Googled Isis hoping to read about Egypt
But their algorithm led me to the Dáesh.

I’ve been turning lots of pages
In “Kintu’s” forgotten ages
Of rites and curses and doppelgängers,
How our roots may have turned into strangers.

I’ve seen people and clouds assemble
While politicians blow and promise rain,
As the drops fall ensemble
Sometimes like acid, it brings pain.

It’s boiling hot and heavy
And my heart is damp and humid
My thoughts are no longer headlines
I’m thinking deeper than a tweet.

While the physicist searches atoms
And the astronomist in space roams
It comes to my attention
That we’re searching for a true life.

I’ve heard of the mysticism of the elders
The severity of the Quraysh
The wit of legislators
And still hold to one thought:

In him was life,
the light of all men
For in all else
I’ve found my darkness remains.

For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. Col 3:3