BIRTHRIGHT by Azar Bagheri

In the name of God the most Gracious, the most Merciful…

My intention when writing is to surrender my current feeling and let the words flow through me so that it may be as an act of prayer or an offering of my innermost self. After I have written it down, I may let it go, although it will still remain. What comes, let it come, what goes, let it go, what’s next?

The experience and sensation of life is so strange and enchanting, there are moments and feelings that cannot be captured, but poetry for me is the closest I can get to holding it, cherishing it, then feeling that I can let it go. Sometimes I feel like the poem is writing itself, by the time I get to the end, I am amazed! Sometimes a poem reveals itself to me- such is the life I feel when I am living with remembrance, and it is my sincere wish to do so.

“Birthright” is a reminder to live with this surrender and remembrance, because it is our birthright after all to serve, and love, and simply be. The “ninety-nine names” in this poem refer to the ninety-nine names of Allah in Islam. And the nucleus makes up ninety-nine percent of an atom.

Birthright

You may travel across the world

Or to the place of your neighbor

Or closer still: to your own self

And find it necessary and clear:

Surrender, Love

What we are each searching for

But seldom know
begins

At home.

Like tiny atoms,

We are constantly

In motion,

Held together by the

Pluses and minuses of

The Universe

But even the stones

In their stillness

Have movement

And ways to surrender and praise

See how their shadows are cast

In the eve of the day.

So wherever you are,

Praise, my dear

And be raised

To a Noble station

Near the ninety-nine names of our

Beloved and innumerable King

Where He remains like the nucleus

And we, his servants,

The electrons

Gathering around the sphere

of Him.

Think: if most volume in matter

Is empty space

And most matter is nothing,

Then how much more Glorious

Is our Beloved who makes

Everything out of nothing

My king, let us know

In each of our atoms

How to surrender, so that

We may learn

How to fully Love,

Then we would not need

Anything else, Ya Rabb

We’d know

It’s already us.

Azar Bagheri: A young woman trying to live deeply and sincerely as much as possible, God willing. Her number one priority is remembrance of Allah, and every moment she strives to keep that remembrance and to live a life of surrender and gratitude for every thing that is or isn’t. She enjoys writing poetry and short stories, painting pictures, and working with children. Currently Azar is learning how to draw Persian Portraitures so that she may illustrate for her book of short stories she’s been working on. She loves gardening and spends much of her time observing and marveling at the wonders of the world around her.

~If you are interested in seeing your poetry appear in this blog, or submitting a poem by a woman that has inspired you, please click here for submission guidelines. I greatly look forward to hearing from you!~

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