Belly Dancer Meets Hilāl as Horseman by Rushda Rafeek
By Rushda Rafeek on July 10, 2018 in Poetry
Belly Dancer Meets Hilāl as Horseman
Hilāl, you scimitar of fajr-blue
spring above the vast patio
tousled with tendrils thick
as century, as rose-windows raying
a kiss in sujood. Here, arms sprawl
like date palms. Here, I’m falcon than fellahin
serpent than sequined. Here, I riot
through Nile, spin all dervish parabolic
all antique euphoric while the horseman quiet
as a dome, watched. Beard caliph-white
sniffing saharan that daubs a tambourine
with hoodoo. I will havoc
your harems, he sneers wickedly,
fists born on breast swelling
a locust’s trance.
Note: Hilal is the Arabic term for crescent moon that originated from the Pre-Islamic Arabia.
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Rushda Rafeek is based in Colombo, Sri Lanka. From the works published in numerous literary journals is a Pushcart nomination and the winner of the Nâzım Hikmet Annual Poetry Contest (2018). She is currently working on a first collection of poems.
