Recently I have embarked on a new journey within my poetry. My poems have grown now from being just displays of self-expression to becoming tools for greater change in the world. For a while I had lost my fire as a poet as I became disconnected from my poetry journey. I hit a stumbling block around 2 months ago and I scrambled to discover an answer to an important questions, namely, ‘Who am I as a poet? What do I write about? What is my core message?’.
This question first arose whilst I was thinking about my second year HP goal for my poetry which was all about brand awareness. Before someone can work on brand awareness they have to first start have to think about their brand identity and I didn’t have one at the time, or I should I say, I didn’t have my words put together. The ideas were there, the feelings were there, the type of poet I wanted to become was also there but I needed time to put it together.
One eurka moment that came to me was when I changed my poetry name. I changed it from ‘muaadspoetry’ to ‘theprincespen’ which is a lot more interesting to me. I have always liked the name the prince and as a younger child I would call myself ‘theclownprince’ for no reason at all other than how cool it sounded to me at the time. There is something amazing about the concept of royalty in general and this is what I wanted to include in my brand. My concept of royalty wasn’t supercificial, it was quite deep.
I thought about who I looked up to from the past. What connectioned them and suprisingly it was the fact that they were spiritual royalty and they took that spiritual royalness with them in life and let this light have an effect on all of their actions, thoughts and decisons. They were free minds. Rumi, Marley and others leaders I looked up to had this trait.
They lived in the way of love. They were mystical and detached from the world yet attached at the same time. I conversed with Dr Omid Safi, a leading scholar on Rumi and we exchanged emails (letters) and he was a loving patient guide who answered my many questions. “When love enters society it enters as justice” he informed me. Rumi isn’t just this hippy nice poet who makes people feel good, he’s an active force in the world.
With this wholistic worldview ready, I began to view God in a different way. Previously, it was a relationship of total fear. As a muslim this kingly God was the only God I would think about but now I began to factor in other names of his and think about them carefully. Al-Wudood is one of his names that mean the all loving, the source of love just like Al-Salam means peace and the source of peace. A lifestyle change would be to join this current or peace and love where ever it may be. Lord knows, the world needs this today.
With that said, the following poems that I will publish here where new poems that I published this month. Some discuss how my love for poetry has returned, others are mystical and some send a message about political science. Seeing so much disaster in the world, I really began to contemplate Islamic discussions of humanism from many centries ago and how they are relevant for all of us today. Some poems also discuss alchemy and how we as people are gold and how we must be burnt.
[ I was 21 when I followed the poetry army, ]
I was 21 when I followed the poetry army,
And feeling 50 now, haunted;
I met a man from the village of my mind,
He sits beside my ear, whispering,
I asked him: why do I feel like quitting poetry?
“You’re a poor soul comparing your gifts with the gifts given
to the people around you.”
I found myself where I first began,
Alone and writing in a hole,
In the distance people are celebrating in Tilburg,
And I’m here writing again,
Falling in love with poetry.
Now that I’ve tasted this faith I know,
My passion for prayer will never be little,
Over it [the passion) you won’t find any mould,
For this treasure is not brittle.
I will live here and pray,
Offering up my prayers from the ground,
My words make a long shadow,
And leave a heavily ringing sound.
I offer up my praise to you,
And my sweet surrender.
Where can I escape to?
To avoid this feeling of pain?
Where has the world’s heart gone?
Buried deep down in some drain.
Oh life –
I’ve looked left,
right up and down,
When I think of the world,
On my face comes a frown.
Love holds my hand and says;
“This pain takes you away from your pride,
Gold must be burnt to separate it from the lies.”
A leader is you,
A leader is me,
You can be the prince that was promised,
I can be the prince that was promised.
The prince is the leader who dismisses his own ego,
Even when he as the power,
The great leader is a spring of compassion,
The great leader is a master of the path of love.
Come out dear noble one,
Come out from your cave,
Because you disappeared,
The world ended up the way it did.
I’m talking to you,
You are the prince,
And maybe I can be the prince too.
Prose by Muaad ~ Secret of the greats
I’ve spent so long reading about great individuals and I always viewed themselves as the sun, too bright and too far away. I thought maybe I shined once in the past but I can’t shine like them today.
But the difference between me and these great saints I looked up to is in one great secret. They felt negative emotions and dark thoughts but they didn’t let it stay in their hearts.
They let it pass right through them. They knew those were caused by their circumstances and they knew it didn’t reflect who they are.
But most of all, when they looked at others they saw their own humanity. No matter who it was, they always saw themselves in the eyes of others.
In other peoples eyes they read their own pain, dreams and struggles. This allowed them to develop a light hearted attitude when being around other people.
Seeing the moon stand alone
beautifully and peacefully each night,
Shows me how,
We should stand the same way,
We are living processes in a wider
Environment.
Life isn’t a puzzle to solve,
So our lives aren’t a contest,
We are living stories,
Eternal signs.
Free your mind and live that way.
Jestora 
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