The Dryness and the Rain

First came a strong wind, Rippin' off rooftops like bottlecaps And bending lamp posts down to the ground. Then came a thunder shattering my windows But you were not that strong wind or that might sound You left the bar in shambles, The rabbit hutch in ruins, The split-rail fence splintered and the curtains torn. All the cows out from the pastures trampling the pumpkins And the horses from their stable ambling in the corn Isa ruhu-lah 'alaihis-salat was-salaam Isa ruhu-lah 'alaihis-salat was-salaam And I've flown unnoticed just behind you like an insect And I've watched you like a falcon from a distance as you passed. Then swooped down to be nearer, to the traces of the footsteps To pick the fallen grain from the pressed-down dirt and crooked grass. And I'm gonna take that grain and I'm gonna crush it all together Into the flour of a bread as small and simple and sincere. As when the dryness and the rain finally drink from one another The gentle cup of mutually surrendered tears, C'MON! A fish swims through the sea While the sea is in a certain sense, Contained within the fish! Oh, what am I to think Of what the writing of a thousand lifetimes Could not explain If all the forest trees were pens And all the oceans, ink? Isa ruhu-lah 'alaihis-salat was-salaam Isa ruhu-lah 'alaihis-salat was-salaam Nastagh-firuka ya Hokan Ya Dhal-Jalah wal-Ikram Isa ruhu-lah 'alaihis-salat was-salam Ya Halim, ya Qahhar Ya Muntaqim, ya Ghaffar! Ia Ilaha ilallahu, Allahu Akbar!