we sit between walls and behind screens
while our faith flickers like a candle placed beside an open window
at night, we stay up
our hearts breaking from news of war, disease, hunger and outrage
i want to dream beyond a future where we are not masked,
a time far beyond that
where we breathe in the gardens and rivers from another world
that perhaps i stumbled upon after walking through one of the seven heavenly gates
at least i hope one of them is open for me
i can only imagine what it feels like to enter a place feeling peace again
because no one can guarantee that anymore
we have turned away from God’s nature and nature’s God
every tree and fruit and flower
mountains cast upon the land
and yet the earth trembles underneath us like it knows we don’t deserve
the magnificent gift we were given to sustain us
once we are torn from our roots, it’s no wonder we are aimless
like Iblis refusing to bow to Adam
we have succumbed to the lies of our egos
privileging whiteness, silencing Blackness
and bleeding in “i don’t see color”
i don’t know how many more dead bodies and mothers’ tears
it will take to clear our vision
but Ibraham said: “Who despairs of the Mercy of his Lord except the misguided?”
even though we are but made of clay,
let us not crack or crumble
let us mold our hearts to be softer
let us carry these hardships outside us
so our hearts are vessels for love, justice
and remembrance of our Creator
we are the miracles we are praying to happen
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Nesima Aberra is a writer, poet and digital strategist dedicated to working at the intersection of media and social impact. By day, she’s a communications director at a social impact communications firm. A creative writer at heart, Nesima is an alum of workshops with VONA (Voices of Our Nations Arts Foundation), THREAD at Yale, Catapult and The Power of Diverse Voices: Poynter Minority Writers Workshop. She is passionate about supporting creativity in underrepresented communities and, in particular, elevating the voices of young Black Muslim women.
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