Eleven Odes to Little Girls

Transcription

1 Eleven Odes to Little Girls S h a h b a n o A l i a n i Na layn Publications

2 Na layn Publications, Karachi 2015 Shahbano Aliani Website: Graphics: Free vintage illustrations from thegraphicsfairy.com Poetry & Design: Shahbano Aliani This pdf book is a free gift from Na layn Publications and the author for our friends. Please download, read and share it with others free of charge for non-commercial purposes only.

3 2 for Little & Big Girls Everywhere

4 Table of Contents 3 Introduction 4 For My Daughter 5 Our Daughter Is A Shiny Star 7 From June To December 8 Infinity Around Space 9 But You Already Know 10 I Simply Adore You 11 Garden Gnome-a 12 Remember Who You Are 13 A Little Girl I Know 15 I Want To Hug You 17 Wheel On My Heart 18 About The Author 19

5 Introduction 4 I wrote most of these poems for my daughter and a couple for another girl I love. Some of the poems have a little story, which is shared at the end of the poem. My daughter, Oma Mika Hameed, was about seven or eight when I started writing Sufi (mystical) poetry. Though she was curious about my poems, when I read them out to her, she wasn t very impressed. With the unselfconscious candour of a child she announced, Mama, I don t understand your poems. And anyway, how can they be poems? They don t rhyme. So, when I wrote poems for her, I tried hard to make them rhyme. Sometimes, I succeeded. When I shared a few of the poems on social media many people liked them. I realized, anyone who knows and loves a little girl and really, who doesn t? would enjoy this small collection. So, I ve put all my poems for and to little girls together in this tiny book. Please feel free to share it with anyone who you think will enjoy them. They are a gift to all girls, their parents, grandparents, friends, aunts, uncles, siblings, cousins, godparents and well-wishers. Shahbano Aliani 6 th November 2015

6 1 For My Daughter 5 i loved you before i was conscious of anything before i dreamt of you thought of you wanted you or held you, i loved you in every way i knew how: the way i had been loved the way i had not been loved the way i wished i had been loved the fullness and the void of love i had known or yearned for over lifetimes and ages all poured into my love for you i loved you with ferocity and wholeheartedness unspeakable joy

7 6 and unbearable torment as only one who gives birth can love her child 11 th december 2011 Having a child can potentially be one of the most potent creative experiences, a gateway to the expression of the Life Force. Not surprisingly, becoming a mother is something that can transform and intensify the experience of life. This poem is about the awakening that childbirth brought into my life, an experience which was simultaneously terrifying and exquisite and which seemed to have been seeded at an ancient moment, before the birth of anything. This poem was first published in Set My Heart On Fire: A Collection of Sufi Poems

8 2 Our Daughter Is A Shiny Star 7 our daughter is a shiny star shining brightly from afar pretty as a butterfly fragrant as a flower we carry her in our hearts so she s never ever far she s really kind and lovely sweeter than honey in a jar if you had a daughter as sweet you d be as lucky as we are 6 th july, 2011 Oma started ing me when she was about eight because I travelled often for work and this was, in addition to speaking on the phone, one more way of staying in touch. This poem was written when her father and I were traveling without her; I wanted to tell her, in very simple language, how special she was and how blessed we were to have her.

9 3 From June To December 8 i love you from june to december i love you from january to may i love you more than a sky full of stars more than a million truckloads of hay i love you more than calculators can count and more than all the words can say i love you more each year, each month i love you more every minute of every day i love you from june to december i love you from january to may undated In all of my s to Oma, I would write, I love you. Her abiding contention was, I love you more! This almost always led to a competition of sorts, with each of us claiming that it was she who loved the other more. This poem is my counterclaim in rhyme.

10 4 Infinity Around Space 9 i love you infinity around space in an infinity of ways like a silky moonlit gaze or an open flower face like the migrant bird who stays the first word a baby says like woolly sheep who graze in the chilly morning haze like the sunflower with its face always turned to the sun s rays in all the nights and days i love you infinity 'round space in an infinity of ways 1 st october, 2012 When she was little, Oma would tell me, Mama, I love you infinity around space.

11 10 5 But You Already Know i love you too but you already know that this is just this and that is just so as the sparrow twitters and as squawks the crow i love you too but you already know as the rain comes fast and the night comes slow as the sun shines bright but the moon s a soft glow i love you too but you already know as the fire is hot as cold is the snow as fruit always ripens and children always grow i love you too but you already know 10 th january, 2011 Dear Reader, you already know why I wrote this poem.

12 11 6 I Simply Adore You my dear, my darling i don t want to bore you with many many words or long long speeches about roses and violets or mountains and beaches i don t want to take up too much of your time in order to make up an interesting rhyme i ve said it before and i ll say it again in words that are clear unambiguous and plain as i said, my dear i don t want to bore you so i ll come to the point: i simply adore you 9 th January 2010 This is a revised version of a poem written for a not so little girl s birthday.

13 12 7 Garden Gnome-a there was a little girl named oma who's mama called her oma-paloma she had long hair and bangs but thankfully no fangs and was more precious than a garden gnome-a! 2 nd october, 2010

14 8 Remember Who You Are 13 little girl remember who you are you re a perfect, powerful, beautiful star you are a little girl they say who ll grow up one day until then you re just a child to be tamed so you don t go wild grown ups don t always take you seriously and some of them shout quite furiously all of them tell you what to do because they think they know better than you some make you feel weaker and smaller than you are others make you feel bigger and taller than you are some make you feel

15 14 special and so very loved others do things that re mean or absurd but you know you carry a light in your heart that can never be hurt or broken apart that can never be made to feel smaller than it is you ve always known and you ll always know this so, little girl always remember who you are you are a perfect, powerful, beautiful star 2010 Oma was struggling with the adult world and its desire to dominate the little ones. My heart ached for her and for little and big girls everywhere who had been made to feel small and inadequate by someone bigger. I wanted to remind all of us that no one and nothing can diminish or damage our inner light.

16 9 A Little Girl I Know 15 there is a little girl bouncy and happy like little girls should be her eyes shine with the light from which she s made she knows the secret of the stars why flowers nod in the breeze she knows what rain drops sing and that clouds and moon taste sweet she knows all this because she is stars and spring breeze she is rain and clouds and moon her heart bigger than the sky her smile brighter than the sun

17 16 and so she also knows the best secret of all she knows what it is to be loved she knows what it is to love she is a radiant, fragrant creature who lives inside you set her free 8 th january 2009 Another birthday poem for a very special girl, who coaxes out the playful child in me and whose presence I delight in always.

18 17 10 I Want To Hug You i want to hug you so tight that you dissolve in my chest where i carry you every moment part heartbeat part breath i want to hug you so tight that i soak up all your pain and, pour into you my love immense, like the sky soft, like your hand sweet, like jasmine my love to make you smile and shine forever 15 th december 2008

19 11 Wheel on My Heart 18 there was a little child inside me too just like you she was lost or asleep for so long i d forgotten she d ever been but when i found you i found her too you held her hand and made her play and made her laugh and made her cry so easily you found the wheel on my heart and turned it round and round filling it with joy filling it with pain filling it with love i knew not i could feel september 2008

20 About the Author 19 Shahbano Aliani was born and raised in Pakistan and spent many years studying and working in the United States. Increasingly disillusioned with the mediocrity and futility of her outer endeavours and plagued by a growing disquiet, she searched for purpose and meaning and was brought to the Sufi path through the Zawia (spiritual retreat) and teachings of Shaykh Ebrahim Etsko Schuitema in Soon thereafter the poetry, a tiny bit of which is included in this little book, began to arrive, demanding to be written. Shahbano continues her inner journey and writing what her muse demands. Find Shahbano at: More poetry at: Sufi aphorisms at: