What is Sabr?

Is it succulent and sweet?

The deep night,

In whose soft shadows I worship,

And weep.

…

Is it lip-biting and white-knuckled?

Silently I grip the keys,

To my house in Paradise.

Because Allah knows I am right.

…

Is it resilient restraint?

Persistence through the perilous days,

Of insidious whispers,

That I refuse to heed.

…

Is it acceptance of His Decree?

No blasphemous utterance,

Of ‘if’ or ‘why?’

Uttered in a fit of grief.

…

Is it the obedience of a surrendered soul?

The silence of a battered ego?

Desperately seeking,

The Pleasure of its Rubb?

…

Or is it just a dream,

That one day …

I will be patient,

And enter Paradise.