sleep is the only respite
my longing for You
rises with the sun
gaining strength
on the heat of the day
demanding
that its gnawing hunger be fed

a mighty tiger
behind the bars of my ribcage
that needs the open spaces of
Your Presence
to breathe and be free

i am astounded:
how did it end up here?
did You make me a promise
at some beginning
that i have forgotten
and only
the tiger’s insistent hunger remembers?

why else
would Your absence make me suffer like this!

***

10th June 2010. For more contemporary sufi poetry in english, please visit Sufi Poetry English.