Featured Poem: The Worry Beads
posted on: Jan 25, 2017
Artwork by Lukman Ahmad
BY: Daughter of the Diaspora/Ambassador Blogger
The worry beads are set in motion,
By steady fingers and buried emotions,
By a restless mind still agitating.
It keeps the beads tap-tapping,
Nudged one against the other,
Long enough for thoughts to linger
In the crystal of the amber.
He ponders,
The tribulations of today.
The worry beads heed the conscience,
And offer him a somber silence
To pained musings and misgivings.
No point fretting God’s chartered path.
The worry beads absorb his wrath.
One bead, he pushes against the other,
And lays to rest his forgone plan,
To return to his promised land,
Of figs and olives.
The tapping soothes his agony.
Unfinished endings.
False beginnings, all too many.
Time makes nothing stay.
Family bonds are no exception.
Friendships, marriages fade away.
The beads that once seemed perfect
Remind him nothing is.
His reminiscing omits the laughter,
His mind drifts to the ever after.
He lets the beads offer a perspective,
To reconcile his fate to others,
Those who passed before him,
Those still with him.
All have born the blows of the struggle,
The trail of tears resides within him,
He is still among the counted.
He is still among the living.
One more bead falls atop its brother,
And in the silence, is the tap tapping.
About the poet:
Daughter of the Diaspora is an Arab American with roots in Palestine and Lebanon. Her poetry is a narrative inspired by the forceful displacement of innocent peoples by war and the permanent and invisible scars it leaves behind. She focuses on the refugee experience in the Arab world and, in particular, on the Palestinian Diaspora, as she sees it from the perspective of mothers and daughters.
About the artist:
Lukman Ahmad is a Kurdish artist from Syria. He began his career in 1986 and has lived in the US since 2010. His expressive motifs are a reflection of a Kurdish culture that adores colors. For more information on Lukman Ahmad’s work please check his website www.lukmanahmad.net
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