Songs Of The Desert Wind

Songs Of The Desert Wind
© Surazeus
2018 05 26

Across the sun-blistered volcanic fields
of Al-Safa in the Harrat Ash-Shamah
where cinder cones simmer in waste of Syria
ten thousand stones glow with letters of words.

Warriors and herdsmen walking the hot sands
of Al-Safa, in search for pools of water
and safe caves to hide from the heat and war,
inscribed their names and deeds on broken stones.

Ahmad Al-Jallad, professor of language
in Arabic and Semitic linguistics,
leads us in the waste land of broken stones
inscribed with the songs of the desert wind.

"I, Addan son of Aws son of Adam,
while herding sheep lament my brother Saad
was captured by enemies, so I pray
that Wise Mother Al-Lat will set him free."

"May the words of my hand not be obscured
for though my name was once in every mouth
they are silent now as wind on the sand
for they forgot my glorious deeds in war."

"I am Ghayyarel son of Ghawth, shepherd
alighting in this meadow of the wind
to keep watch for the brother of my mother
who fed me with the sweet milk of her heart."

"May this halting be only for the war
as we seek the glory of foremost fame
for those who return suffer from our wounds,
so let this day be the final encampment."

Tribes of Arabs who watched their herds of sheep
learned to write the letters of Alexander
to preserve the names of their families
and record the songs of the desert wind.

Like graffiti on walls of ancient cities,
ads in classified sections of newspapers,
and posts on social media internet sites,
their stories dream their names on broken stones.

Were our civilization to collapse
and we wander lost in ruins of cities
would we write on cement walls and steel pillars
our names in the songs of the desert wind?