A Personal Tribute to Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore, from Abdalhamid Evans
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Oh Servant of The Living!
We Salute you…
Unswerving hunter of the birds of meaning
You gathered them in for us
Great exotic plumed birds
like we had never seen before
You brought them to graze awhile
in the bright clearing of our imaginations,
to teach and illuminate
and remind us
of our lives and our deaths.
I wanted to find a bird, for memory of you
even if only a sparrow
common, garden, brown…
But instead
I dug the soil
and planted my favourite flowers
with their round green leaves
and yellow and orange trumpets
to climb the fence in the afternoon sunlight,
to sing praise and glory.
We are humbled by the radiance of your life
and even more by your final gift…
The Immense Dignity Of Your Departure,
like a poem written in a dying breath.
Our gathering supplications rise from all corners
like great wide rippling flocks of birds
pulled up by the gravity of heaven.
Oh what bright footsteps you leave!
May The Living take you to the highest of your visions…!
and then beyond…
and may we follow with the best of them.
I wanted to write…
but it was your words that came to me
as I dug the earth
Abdalhamid Evans
Throughout Ramadan, SeekersGuidance is paying tribute to the late Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore, one of the most prolific and skillful poets of our time. Each day, a selection from Ramadan Sonnets will be read by a friend and loved one. To contribute, please email us.
See also Sidi Haroon Michael Sugich’s moving tribute to Abdal-Hayy on the SeekersGuidance blog.
