At first light, the Mourning Dove
Woke me from my slumber, calling
Coo coo coo ooo, coo coo coo
Alhamdulillah! O timely bird,
Life is short and death is long
La illaha ill Allah!
Each word I heard in your song
Awake! Awake! O lazy one,
Time is flying, the sun is rising
Now the muezzin echoes your call,
Singing the faithful to prayer
The earth is a prayer rug,
Under a blue-domed mosque
La illaha ill Allah!
La illaha ill Allah!
Irving Karchmar, July 2007
July 8, 2007 at 1:47 am
Did you ever try to think like a skeptic…….just wondering……use thinking with respect to reason, free thought, and most important evidence and science. Just wondering…….
July 8, 2007 at 2:02 am
mashaAllah brother! Its such an interesting phenomenon, the birds chirp and the muezzin calls for prayer. This is probably the one thing I miss about living in the Middle East.
July 8, 2007 at 5:13 am
Mashallah! How you weave magic with words! I am in awe.
July 8, 2007 at 5:40 am
Assalamu alaikum,
dear brother Irving, AllahuAkbar! Alhumdulillah for the gift of Iman, so expressively reminding us in your selection of images. Hilwa!
Wassalamu alaikum
July 8, 2007 at 8:28 am
Salaam Dear Brothers and Sisters:
Alhamdulillah, that in His mercy He sends us reminders of life’s short span, and calls us to awaken to love for each other in His name. La illaha ill Allah! From Him we come and to Him is our return.
The Mourning Dove’s plaintive call was very much like this to my ears, and I quickly set down these few lines. May God bless you all.
Ya Haqq!
July 8, 2007 at 12:31 pm
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July 8, 2007 at 1:41 pm
Salaam Dear Brother Irving,
You capture so beautifully an awareness of all of creation praising God. It is this sense of Oneness that i find so inspiring.
July 8, 2007 at 10:59 pm
Salaams Irving,
Very nice…and birds singing in the early moring is the sweetest way to wake up! I can totally relate to that beauty. I especially enjoyed the last 2 lines also–those two lines actually REALLY caught me. Thank you
July 8, 2007 at 11:11 pm
Irving, in re-reading your poem, I meant the last 2 lines being what you wrote before the last 2 final lines of praise of course (which is awesome!)
July 9, 2007 at 2:01 am
interesting.
have you ever thought of writing haiku poetry? perhaps you could create a hybrid version of poetry that infuses sufi ramblings with japanese haiku form. you could call it “haikufi” or something…
Ya Allah!
July 9, 2007 at 4:21 pm
“The earth is a prayer rug,
Under a blue-domed mosque”
Wow! Praise be to God… This poem speaks for itself.
July 10, 2007 at 11:13 am
ma sha Allah! I’m with merryweather, those last 2 lines are especially amazing!
July 10, 2007 at 12:49 pm
dear brother peace…..its a lovely poem……………the earth is a prayer rug under a blue domed mosque………….ah under Allah’s beautiful garden……may our Beloved give you lots and lots of wisdom …so that you may write such lovely meaningful poems.
July 11, 2007 at 1:39 pm
So moving! Amazing work brother! Salaam!
July 14, 2007 at 12:41 am
oh! never read a beautiful poem like this. it’s so captivating and nearly moved me to tears.i like this poem very much
July 14, 2007 at 12:46 am
a really very beautiful poem. i like it . the poem is about the morning prayer isn’t it bro. salaam. PLS BROTHER, WRITE MORE POEMS .
July 15, 2007 at 8:55 pm
As salam aleykum wa ramatullah wa barakatuh!
This charming piece reminds me of a poem I wrote once upon being woken in a strange land unknown to Islam:
O pajarito de la mañana
Cantado cheele cheele en su fana,
Me dispertó y feliz soy
Que tambien es musulmana.
O little bird of the morning
Singing chirping sounds in fana,
You woke me, but happy I am
To find you as well are Moslem.
Our paths may not have crossed, but they ran along the same rivers (even if from different banks).
Ya Latif!
July 15, 2007 at 9:47 pm
Salaam Dear Brothers and Sisters:
Thank you for the kind and generous comments, and a special thanks to Motamid for the beautiful bird song poem. It is a delight to the eye and ear :)
Ya Haqq!
July 21, 2007 at 1:24 am
I love the poem! A dove woke me up this morning. Much too early. They’re much cuter during the day.
August 10, 2007 at 1:00 am
[...] Karchmar presents Call of the Mourning Dove posted at Darvish. I’ve always loved the poetry on Darvish .. If only I could hear what [...]
October 26, 2007 at 10:58 am
Another beauty.
November 3, 2007 at 2:26 pm
mashallah! beautiful reminder indeed.