{"id":1432,"date":"2015-08-14T09:28:25","date_gmt":"2015-08-14T13:28:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/mission-and-identity\/?p=1432"},"modified":"2019-09-18T16:49:21","modified_gmt":"2019-09-18T20:49:21","slug":"august-14-we-need-your-humoro-highly-praised-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2015\/08\/14\/august-14-we-need-your-humoro-highly-praised-one\/","title":{"rendered":"August 14 – “We need your humor,\tO highly praised One!”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Friday August 14 \u00a0–<\/span>you recommended kind words to be the best type of alms for Muslims to give<\/b>.”\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At UDM\u2019s 2014\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>Celebrate Spirit mass of blessing,\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Professor Fatemeh Keshavarz<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0welcomed us into our academic year by reading one of her poems\u00a0<\/span><\/span>(<\/span><\/span>https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2014\/09\/12\/sept-12-this-years-poet-at-celebrate-spirit-fatemeh-keshavarz\/<\/a>)<\/span>. \u00a0A poet and scholar, she holds The\u00a0<\/span><\/span>University of Maryland\u2019s Roshan Chair Persian Studies, \u00a0 <\/span><\/span>\u00a0Last week she emailed me another poem (“<\/span><\/span>I have thought of sending this poem to you for the listserv a number of times (usually when I am inspired by the poems that you post). \u00a0It is called ‘O Highly Praised One!’ which is what the word Mohammad means.<\/span>\u201d<\/span>).<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Posting it on Friday, the Day of Prayer in Islam, respects the poem\u2019s form, a contemplative prayer of praise. \u00a0Posting it in mid-August, one month before this year\u2019s Celebrate Spirit (September 10) it, respects the University\u2019s powerful blessing service in which locates the centuries-old Roman Catholic Mass of the Holy Spirit in the context of our commitment to \u00a0welcome and\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>bless <\/span>women and men from every tradition. \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
If you live in Motown and you are a fan of this weekend\u2019s annual ‘Woodward Dream Cruise\u201d you may join the 1 million ++ people who hang out watching old cars drive by their lawn chairs. \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Wherever you live, blessings on one of the final weekends of the summer season.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
john sj<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n

Today\u2019s Post: \u00a0O Highly Praised One!<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

My poems are silent about you, o highly praised one!
\nWhere I live
\nYou are exiled to impossible conversations walled up inside sound bites
\nAnd among not so funny cartoon figures that smell of ominous things
\nThere
\nDivested of your famous smile, soft clean hands, and rose-scented perfume
\nYou order your dim-witted followers
\nTo hide bombs inside the folds of an oversized turban that history does not remember you to have worn \u2026 ever<\/p>\n

History says you had curly black hair resting playfully on your shoulders
\nGentle but penetrating eyes
\nAn upright figure
\nA firm \u2013 but not haughty \u2013 voice
\nAnd a somewhat reserved \u2013 even bashful- personality
\nI was not surprised to read about your habit of sitting with your legs folded under and saying \u201cI am not a proud king.\u201d<\/p>\n

No one had bothered to tell me that you recommended kind words to be the best type of alms for Muslims to give.<\/p>\n

I never thought collections of your sayings would have funny anecdotes like when you said to this man who prayed too loud \u201cDo not hurt your throat my son, the all mighty is not deaf.\u201d
\nThen you added wisdom to laughter
\n\u201cHe lives in you \u2026 and knows how you live your life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Few biographers speak of your humor
\nThey figure blood, blind anger, and other heart wrenching things go better with the war on terror
\nBut I am going to smuggle some more of your laughter into this poem anyway:
\nOne day, a dying woman asked you \u201cWould a sick old retch like me be allowed into paradise?\u201d \u201cNo\u201d you answered with a straight face \u201cyou will be young and healthy by the time you get there.\u201d<\/p>\n

We need your humor, O highly praised One!
\nWe need it now more than ever
\nTeach me how to smile
\nAs I tear the veil of despair to reach your figure obscured
\nBy that of Ben Laden and other \u201cAbu\u201ds and \u201cIbn\u201ds
\nObscured by the yellow mushroom clouds manufactured with anxiety and ignorance,
\nlayer upon layer of not knowing and not wanting to know<\/p>\n

Teach me to take in and cherish every glimmer of hope
\nThe rays of tranquility that emanate from the perfect diction of peace be upon you!
\nTeach me to be that peace<\/p>\n

Let me dream about flaunting my friendship with you
\nThe way grandma publicized the perfection of your arched eyebrows which she saw in a dream so long ago she could not remember when<\/p>\n

In her dream, you stood upon a hill far and near \u2013 and luminous with daylight
\nShe stepped close
\nAnd closer to the foot of the hill and fragrance in the air overwhelmed her senses
\nFrom that point on she remembered little
\nExcept the perfection of your bright face and arched eyebrows
\nWhich echoed in the soft tremor in her voice
\nAs she whispered under her breath:
\nPeace
\nBe
\nUpon
\nHim<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Friday August 14 \u00a0–you recommended kind words to be the best type of alms for Muslims to give.”\u00a0 At UDM\u2019s 2014\u00a0Celebrate Spirit mass of blessing,\u00a0Professor Fatemeh Keshavarz\u00a0\u00a0welcomed us into our academic year by reading one of her poems\u00a0(https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2014\/09\/12\/sept-12-this-years-poet-at-celebrate-spirit-fatemeh-keshavarz\/). \u00a0A poet … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11641],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1432"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1432"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1432\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3151,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1432\/revisions\/3151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}