Contemplating the Sunset Across the Road
from Maqaam Ayyub, Southern Syria
A Dream within a Dream
The sky is robin egg blue
Undulating verdant hills fold out into the distance
Vineyards brilliant green against the gentle hills
And I am standing on a yellow dusty road
Watching pink gold light the sky
I have been here before
A dream within a dream
I walk and see the bottle
It is empty but labeled
‘Broken Dreams’
Shards of glass within the glass
How can this place exist in a barren land?
How can summer rain gently fall on my face,
warm from the sun?
How can Allah’s mercy exist through all my sins?
The cool grey rocks beckon,
I sit holding my jar close to me
Sorrow, Grief and Shukr now fill it
I remind myself that this too
was Ayyub’s paradise.
