Archive for category Poems
Swimming in Your Stream – Lyric Poem
My heart aches for affection
Shopping the self-help section
I try so hard to please
Waiting for the one who never leaves
What I have is not enough
I don’t have the stuff
Tan hands that craft verse
Jobless or something worse
I lack that polished sheen
Not living the dream
But you could change my scene
And you would be my queen.
I live too much in my head
Scholar in the School of Ed
Absent-minded professor
Sinful nonconfessor
I’m here laughing at your jokes
I’m getting your Diet Cokes
The one that lets you be free
Somehow you don’t see me
Swimming in your stream
Not living the dream
But you could change the scene
And you would be my queen.
The Deep Ocean
The Deep Ocean
Not with my hands, but with my soul
Not to her grave, but to her soul.
The fragility of her tiny hands
The deep ocean of her soul
The wrinkles on her face
Told the story of her soul
She did not worry about our careers
But was concerned about our souls
The problems the world faced
She saw answers in our souls
Allah put an end to her pain
Returning her to the form of a pure soul
6/12/2010
Patience Means More Than Just To Wait
“There is no faith without going to the edge of disbelief.” – Anonymous
Take me up to the heights
And I will look down
I’m done with responsibilities and rights
I only want oblivion
Steeped in what you call sin
Failure on every front
I will dare to question
My turn before yours
I understand the cause of pain
The burden of choice
But what really racks my brain
Is the eons of silence
Not that I need to see your face
I long for a message
In this time and place
I need you more than ever
You were too wise to set a date
But no one said it would be so long
A world of violence and hate
Cries out for a hero
Patience means more than just to wait
It requires struggle too
Challenges of the world do not abate
When one simply does nothing
You give too much away
And our story is over
Until we’re ready for that day
Preserve the mystery
I’ll never be completely sure
The battle is in the debate
This faith and love will endure
So long as you don’t let me go
(C) Asad Jaleel Enterprises 2009
Photosynthesis Song
Photosynthesis Song
The popularity of my previous post – The Nitrogen Cycle Song has convinced me that there is a big market for science-themed songs. So I’ve come up with a little ditty about photosynthesis. Enjoy!
You start with water and carbon with an oxygen pair,
You end with sugar and the oxygen of air.[1]
But the plant has two other needs you have to fill,
It has to have light and chlorophyll.
It happens in little organs called chloroplasts
And you wouldn’t believe how fast.
Plants are busy while I’m making rhymes.
In one second, one step can happen a million times.[2]
Without plants, there’d be no food chain,
Then you couldn’t power your heart and brain.
We’ve got an energy problem we need to fix,
Plants make the power people need – times six.[3]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photosynthesis
[1] The general equation for photosynthesis is:
2n CO2 + 2n H2A + photons → 2(CH2O)n + n O2 + 2n A
carbon dioxide + electron donor + light energy → carbohydrate + oxygen + oxidized electron donor
[2] The third phase, the electron transport chain and ATP synthesis, takes place on the microsecond (1 microsecond (μs) = 10−6 s) to millisecond (1 millisecond (ms) = 10−3 s) time scale.
[3] The amount of energy trapped by photosynthesis is immense, approximately 100 terawatts which is about six times larger than the power consumption of human civilization.
The Persistence of Memory
The way lamb sticks in your teeth
The way pain lingers long after an injury
How a song can resurrect like Lazarus
A funny gesture like a stuck-out tongue
Brings back an unrequited love
A yellowed patch of newspaper
Recalls a friend who is far away
Handwritten ink on a birthday envelope
Is the legacy of a loving grandmother
Or a flower your mother pressed
Between the pages of a voluble text
Dali's "Persistence of Memory"
If – A Lyric Poem
If I lived on the bottom of the sea,
Would you come find me?
My heart, my heart, my heart
It would never keep us apart.
If my touch to you were fire
Would it cure your desire?
My heart, my heart, my heart
It would never keep us apart.
If my lips like thorns did sting
Would it change the song you sing
My heart, my heart, my heart
It would never keep us apart.
If we had our happy ending
But everyday our love needed mending
My heart, my heart, my heart
It would never keep us apart.
[Special thanks to Luke Murphy and congratulations on a great two sessions.]
The Opened Eyes
[This poem has been accepted for publication in Poems of the World. It's about the nature of teaching.]
The Opened Eyes
Show me the way
Be my eyes when I am blind
Teach me the mystery of the initiated
You have sight and open eyes
The road is not at your feet but in your soul
There is no mystery for the ones who know
I have not come to play games
Your duty is to guide
If you cannot show me, you must not know.
Ponder why you have come
If I carry you on my back,
Your legs will never know the joy of running.
I feel as though I know nothing
I see you have nothing to offer
But I am here waiting
Now the learning begins . . .