Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE SONG OF MUEZZIN ABOU, by CALE YOUNG RICE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE SONG OF MUEZZIN ABOU, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I wake at dawn and fling sleep from my eyes
Last Line: Allahu akbar! 'llah il allah! Allah!
Subject(s): India; Religion; Singing & Singers; Sleep; Theology


I wake at dawn and fling sleep from my eyes.
The shade of Allah still is on His skies.
Ere He shall lift it and let forth the sun
My feet up the steep minaret have run.
Allahu akbar! 'llah il Allah! Allah!

And there, leaning expectant toward the East,
I watch the first rays like a holy yeast
Shoot through the heavy sleeping loaf of earth
And quicken it again to a new birth.

And me they quicken to an ecstasy,
Till heaven like a mighty Mosque I see,
And Allah in it, the most high Imam,
Whose word has made me all I was and am.
Allahu akbar! 'llah il Allah! Allah!

And so at noon, and so again at night
I mount with all the soul of me alight,
And His Perfection to the four winds cry --
And so would do, so only, till I die!

And after death! for there, in Paradise,
Let others have pale houris as the price
Of their devotion to the Prophet's fame,
A minaret for me -- and Allah's Name!
Allahu akbar! 'llah il Allah! Allah!





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