To my Misr sisters

For all my beautiful sisters who have left us here in Misr…

As I look around me
The pain makes me flinch –
So many faces
Their features
So familiar,
Etched on the walls of the memory,
By shared tales,
Laughter and tears.

But today,
I do not delight in those faces
For each one holds the promise of pain,
The pain of parting,
The promise of more tears shed.

It hurts.
SubhanAllah, how it hurts
To see those you have loved
Disappear into the Cairo skies.
Spreading wings to fly,
To flee,
To seek out new horizons.

And those who are left behind
Survey the remains,
Bereft,
Aghast at the emptying
That was once so full of life
And love
And laughter
Is inhabited by shadows
Of memory,
Memory that will fade
As the dust season approaches.

It hurts,
SubhanAllah,
It hurts.

I cling,
Cling with a fervour
To the certainty
That there is a reason
That there is a season
That there is a higher purpose
To our meeting here,
In this time,
In this place,
In Egypt.

We have touched each other
Some of us
In ways so profound
That the marks will never fade,
Even with a lifetime of journeys.

We will carry the memory of this time
These golden days in Egypt
With us always
In our hearts,
In our smiles,
In the way we shrug when the lights go out,
In our accent when we recite Qur’am -
Fa bi ayy ala rabbihuma tukadhiban…

We thank Him that He brought us together
In this time,
In this place,
In Egypt.

As I look around
At the emptying of my Egypt,
I thank Allah for all that we shared
In this place.

My beautiful,
Wonderful,
Unforgettable
Sisters of Egypt.

xxx