Musty fumes belch out
of Kabul’s downtown sprawling mass
of rambling rickshaws, tooting Toyotas,
trotting horse drawn carts,
heaving and straining
with the weight of rotting carcasses
and the salvaged wreckages of time.
Freedom
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Category Archives: Poems
World Events
Like
an
inexorable
river
thundering,
gaining in momentum, swelling,
the multifarious world events flow to a waterfall,
spraying
into
the
tributaries of time.
Some drops plummet
like weighty rocks
shattering our surfaces
but other drops
float and slide
restoring unity.
Then foam rises
resurrecting from
the impact of reactions,
forming
convoluted clouds
or arresting apparitions
Before we evaporate into the ether,
Will we fall, or burst, or saturate?
Will we merge, or clear, or emanate?
Using Language
By Novid Shaid, 2003
.
Using language
is like painting pictures
and shaping sculptures
in endlessly renewable ways.
Suffering
by Novid Shaid, 2006
.
The screaming of my child,
As she dies of hunger and thirst,
Has destroyed my taste for life
And stuffed me full of emptiness.
The Battlefield: The Tawba of A Muslim Teenager
By Novid Shaid, 1997
.
I battle with myself
Face to face, punch for punch,
My future launches at me in front
And my past creeps up from behind.
I dodge the assault of late night party invitations,
And avoid the ambushing memories of early mistakes:
Phone numbers of girls.
.
Prayers on the Prophet: Part One
Allah bless him and grant him peace, by Novid Shaid
February, 2011, Rabbi Al Awwal, 1432
……..
A humble homage to Al Dalailul Khayrat Part One
………
Oh Lord, send Your peace and blessings ad infinitum,
upon Our Master and Liege Lord Muhammad,
whose face glows like the full moon,
whose smile dispels anguish and gloom
with locks like strands of silk woven from a heavenly loom
with eyes penetrating, and radiating certitude
The Coming Storm
By Novid Shaid, 2011
There’s a storm brewing
beyond the horizon.
Momentary flashes of electrical impulses
flicker far ahead
like a Divine pyrotechnic display
An Ode to The Hadra, By Novid Shaid, 2011
Soaring past the stars
Plunging through the seas
Drowning all who join
The Hadra sets them free
.
Everlasting Lights!
Surround them and unite!
A Prayer: Thank You! Oh Lord, Allah
Novid Shaid, January, 2011
.
Oh You, without form
Ar Rahman, Ar Raheem
Unlike all we imagine
Free of error and need.
.
Oh Lord! As I witness this world
On the spellbinding screen
Showing pain and suffering
Worse than I could ever dream.
.
Song: Behold
By Novid Shaid, 2002
.
Behold with your heart!
His everlasting light,
Behold with your heart, behold!
Behold with your heart!
This overwhelming sight,
Behold with your heart, behold!
.
Beyond everything
Gazes the True King
Who fashioned all that we know.
Peerless is His might
Endless His timeless light
Find Him through your heart, behold
.
Chorus: Behold with your heart! (…)