We sit together, huddled closely,
Anxiously, on the front row
All eyes glued, not to you but
To the images that your words create
You lead us at a measured pace,
Over the peaks and down through the troughs.
Your carefully selected words take us from plane
To plane, each line a new sensory experience.
We wait patiently to follow your cue
To stand in front of your captured audience
And deliver our own humble efforts, Where
My words seem but weak in comparison
I’m nervous and uncomfortable, as I read
Out loud my innermost feelings, thoughts and fears
I see the occasional raised eyebrow, the occasional
Smile amongst faces deep in thought.
I read some more of my painful verse, not sure
If this is what is expected of me
The Round Robin continues through the night, one after
The other we take turns to share the eyes through which we see
The tempo rises and then falls, the mood swings round
Taking us with it on a spiritual journey.
Returning from the break, I find reassurance
In the smiling face and soft coaxing words of a friend.
The evening runs on, the audience
eagerly hold their hands out to be led away to that other world
And as we take them where we will, the half-dimmed room
hides from us their true reactions.
It is only when the evening draws to an end,
kind words from friendly strangers let us know that all is well
Tonight was truly an ecstatic exchange,
led by the master painter Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore
NOTE:
Many of you have asked me for the Ruba’yat from which I read at the Poetry Sama’.
