Faisal Mohyuddin
The following poem was first published in The Aleph Review, Vol. 5 (2021).
Let’s say, on this bright and sisterless
earth spinning listlessly in her imperfect
orbit, perpetually oppressed by the long
shadow of Paradise, there are trees
of such colossal heights that they have
squandered through arrogance the ancient
currency of their tribes. They believe
they possess in their voracious reach
the capacity to pluck from night’s richness
the most sacred stars, fashion them
haughtily into constellations, then bury
these prayers within the tangled circuitry
of their roots, so that when we humans
have finally annihilated ourselves for good,
unfurling fingers of light will sprout
in search of the bitter radiance of their
ancestors, thread up through the lush
underbrush before piercing into the air
sweetened by all that has survived.
These revelations will signal to those
towering trees that their time of rest
has arrived at last. Yet, forever godless
in their aspirations, what can they know
of their actual stature, the vast expanse
standing between them and that first page
of the sky? So too might we endure,
dumbly, without eyes, for longer than
we deserve, and eventually flee from life,
not in death, but in unconquerable
hunger, seeded in a history of falling
short, of hours flummoxed by ambition.
No, we need not lament this longing
always for a less desperate existence.
Without it, what is there in this world
to unshackle the soul, uplift the lingering
shame of want? Doubt can coward
the greatest of hearts. Even the Himalayas
feel unworthy and pine for heaven.
Even those twin trees of Eden envy
the eternal holiness of the other’s fruit.
Faisal Mohyuddin is the author of The Displaced Children of Displaced Children (Eyewear Publishing, 2018), which was chosen as a 2018 recommendation of the Poetry Book Society and named a “highly commendable” collection of the year by the Forward Arts Foundation. Also the author of the chapbook The Riddle of Longing (Backbone Press, 2017), he serves as an educator and adviser to the global not-for-profit Narrative 4 and teaches English at Highland Park High School in suburban Chicago. Learn more about Faisal at www.faisalmohyuddin.com.
Jaffer Hasan, an American-Pakistani photographer, is known for his work in the fashion world. His photographs have been featured in every major publication in Pakistan, as well as many in the Middle East and Europe. Jaffer’s education has seen him travel the world from Paris to Las Vegas, Seattle and Montreal, moving back to Pakistan only a few years ago to pursue photography.
Please note that author and artist bios from archival pieces are reprinted as they first appeared and may not not be up-to-date.
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