Tears of Melted Candle
(Dedicated to Imam Musa Al-Kazim a.s.)

By: Sahar Hussain

The sky of my heart,
suffused with deep colors,
as I watch the tears of melted candle,
bind with my silent cries.
The somber emotions,
the misty cellar,
sketching a pathway for my setiments,
to gain entree into the prison of Al-Rashid.
Amid the induced darkness,
the lone source of illuminance,
was the light, effusing from an abandoned chamber.
Like a wearied moth,
I were attracted towards the light brim;
longing to circle around it.
I peered through the rusted iron-bars,
that fenced me from my beloved Imam.
Flow Oh tears, and mix with the soil of Kazimayn,
for Musa ibn-Jaffar is ornamented with chains of prison!
I cried helplessly,
remembering the loneliness of Ali and Zahra.
How Al-Zahra with her broken ribs,
promised to re-unite with her Ali at the spring of Kawthar,
and Ali; hiding his tears from his little Zainab.
Read Oh lover, the psalms of love,
as Musa ibn-Jaffar whispers to his Lord,
in humility and submission.
Donot ask me how my solitary Imam,
connected the dark nights to the idle days,
will it be sufficient to let you know,
that the prison soil carpeted his little mosque?
He silently glorified Allah
for accepting his age-long prayers.
And now, he could at ease converse to his Beloved.
My Imam, with a bent figure,
so weak and pale,
prostrated on the soil, and ended his prayer with a supplication.
I watched him whisper,
with tear-filled eyes, knowing that like his mother Al-Zahra,
his last supplication will also be answered.
The moment of parting neared,
Imam Kazim, was poisoned by Al-Rashid.
Three days of pain,
followed by eternal rest.
I cried in despair;
Where is Al-Ridha? Where is Fatima Masoumah?
as they relieved my Imam from the horrendous prison.
The vision fades,
and I reach out my hand to grasp the pen,
and narrate the tale of misery.
How can I ever do justice and express the severity of pain,
that bloomed over nineteen long years of torment ...