I am wearing a green cotton abaya
and a yellow viscose hijab
my sunnah is sunflower today
I am eating bread
with cherry jam
the cherries are from our tree
but the jam is from my grandmother
I am listening to a thunderstorm
break a summer fever
which had gripped us all today
the rain splashes my knees
where I sit on the porch
but I do not care because
today I know God
perhaps I will eat a bowl of
watermelon next
I am too much of a witness.
When the time comes they
will call me up and
ask what I have seen.
"I did not only see with my
eyes," I will confess.
"But also with my hands and
mouth, ears and hair, spine
and gut, heart and hips.
You must also ask the
freckle on my skin the
vein on my neck the
swale of my belly the
sweat on my palms."
They will ask the body what we saw.
"We saw a man come together in
the lions' den and
fall apart in
the green pasture."
And who was the lions' den, o body?
"It was a test from the enemy."
And who was the green pasture, o body?
"It was us."
