Yussif Ahmed Ibn Yussif

  Tiptoed to the door On arrival, felt raw The nakedness left me wretched Though I felt rescued   Love comes in different phases Though it wears one face The butcher of loneliness The arbiter of always and forever And yet it can be daunting To a point of succumbing   Heartbreak doesn’t negate love It reinforces it It leaves room for unfiltered love In ways only pain can sustain it   Oh! There is pain in your heart? Sorry That’s your storm Making way for the warmth   With all the cracks in your heart You will recover And you will love again Like never before   You know why? Because when we truly love We love with our souls Not just our hearts                                                   Yussif Ahmed Ibn Yussif                 ...

  Unending woes Woven into wonderful smiles But the world never paused to wonder   Gradually, he withered away All the while smiling Driven into visible oblivion   Many passed but no one looked Admiration and apprehension can be confusing The banks of the river looked confounding But the trepidation in his eyes Well, you couldn’t fathom   He waited and hoped that someone Would stop and ask At least, ask But no one did   As he watched his image float in the water He imagined his soul leaving his body Maybe there is peace in that   He wanted to live But what is the point of it all? The pain had become unbearable And no one to share it with.   He let go as the last splinter of hope left his body His body floating And neighbors wailing   If only someone had asked Maybe, just maybe, things would’ve turned out differently   NOTE Talk to the people around you Let them know the...

'It was fun meeting you But I gotta go now Keep in mind, you may not see me again Or if Allah wills, we’ll meet again Asalaam Alaikum'   I imagine that’s how our goodbyes with Ramadan sounds We don’t like to think about it but it counts Because just like any other thing in time There is no guarantee of a next time   In chapter two of the Wise Quran Allah tells us of the real deal of Ramadan A reminder of the fear of Allah, Ramadan Just think about it   The fear of Allah is of two folds; Leaving what’s prohibited and enjoining what is required Simply, the fear of Allah is just abiding by His legislation.   There is food and water but you leave them for the sake of Allah, Ramadan Those prohibited relationships are halted for the sake of Allah, Ramadan Abusive words are stripped of our mouths for the sake of Allah, Ramadan See, Ramadan is when all goodness is returned to our bodies, and all evil is relegated to nothingness. ...

Every room holds secrets Secrets that can destroy So when the door is breached A skin falls and another builds   A wall comes up When steps are taken For judgment sits keen Ready to strike the candid   The friends we keep The people we dodge And the ones we hug What is this thing about the people we think we can embrace without any questions? Without any walls   Sometimes trust can create magic Magic that can fluid your life Other times, it’s toxic   You have your secrets And I have mine Our doors may not be the same But they hold us well                          Yussif Ahmed Ibn Yussif                          ahmed.yussiph@gmail.com

Like the ice breaks So does the heart But the mind makes it resilient Something the ice lacks   For so long, you held my heart Like the mountains hold the earth without fail Never moving an inch Always a whisper away   You gave me love And I laughed You smiled and tripped But stayed and never strayed   Your love runs in my veins. On days when I miss you most It clots Attempting to suffocate me A little reminder of how much love I deserve Even from a distant figure of unfading memories   Inevitably, time and land Widened the gap between us Disintegrating our unripe love In those moments of space Without your presence Talk without your response Pain without your comfort I was forced to love myself The way you loved me   Even now, here and now Your love fills a void But it also creates another one An even bigger one Because, for you, leaving is inevitable, Sadly.         ...

When we first spoke I felt seen In ways  never before So I kept looking for more of me In your eyes   The feeling was unnatural to me To feel lost and ominous for so long And out of nowhere, a reflector shows up Showing you not just your scars But your perfections too   New understanding surfaces Curing all that blotted out all goodness Darkness into light Sunshine in the night Up and bright   To be perfect is not to be spotless To be perfect is to embrace the scars And flaunt them Till the scars become scary To the scoundrel   You see me And I see me New day

It looked shallow But he still wallowed Not knowing   Sinking isn’t drinking Neither is filled, any satisfying   The bank of the river always looks Sandy But each particle of sand is Shaped differently   When the sea waves move the water to Cover your feet The feeling is different Depending on your state of mind   First, it was your eyes And the beauty that lies In them But now, it's more than that   The whispers of the night The morning adornments The sparks in your voice when you speak of me And what is mine   The blossoming of what could be The strides of your heart The crosses of mine And the intersecting threads   Now, I realize my folly Of folding upfront Now, I unfold Spreading to the ends of the world What could amaze it