Harmony of all things

Today, walk in harmony with all beings.

There are many paths on this journey
and endless ways of being embraced
by the wind.
Let the soft light of your love
spill across everything…
Today, put away your old longing
for a perfect sunrise.
The sunrise is already You
whistling a new tune,
growing one thousand hands,
swaying to a new melody.

Today, walk in harmony with all beings.

— © Aïda Warah 

Renewal in my heart

Does it matter where you begin
And where I end,
When the beats of our hearts
Dance to the growing trust
In our movement?
Does it matter where I begin
And where you end,
When the voices from our past
Awaken in the depths of our minds,
The same old song
For new, everyday beginnings.
Does it matter when the sun
Will shine again,
If I see you in my heart
With my one thousand eyes.
Does it really matter if you cross out
All the words you inscribe
At the doorstep of your day,
Everyday,
When no road will rise to meet you
When no road will rise to meet you
In your journey…
Does it matter who’s right
And who’s wrong
And “who started it”,
When the basic elements
Join forces at dawn,
To hurl the clouds
Into the fields
Of aspiring sunflowers
And send silver rain,
Instead of the promised
Golden rays.
Does it rain in your heart
When I don’t see you
With my one thousand eyes,
And when I let my one thousand
Inscribed lines,
At the doorstep of my day,
Everyday,
Turn me into a lost traveler
In my own land?
Does it really matter
If the words we cross out
Everyday
Did not make us sway,
To a new old hymn,
From some distant galaxy?

— © Aïda Warah

Home

And where is home?
Saniye asked.
Home is where the roads
Rise to meet you.
Home is where everything,
Trees, birds, and old stones
Move to greet you.
It’s where your heart beats
To songs playing in your soul…
Never forgotten

Home is where the afternoon sun
Says with every ray and every dust
Salaam! Peace! Welcome back San!
And where the dreamy, distant hills
Gather to embrace you.

Home is where you forget yourself walking,
And where your feet know every step intimately…
It’s where the wind travels gently on your face
And where the wind takes you to faraway places
But never too far from home,
Never too far from you.

Note from the artist: Very often people ask me where I come from. With an accent and a face that could belong to many places, I understand. But this time, the question sparked a real connection; real, because it generated a new life: a beautiful poem!

I was waiting in Montreal train station. Saniye, new in Canada and missing her homeland, took a short breath as if she remembered something and gently asked: Where is home Aïda, with an emphasis on the ï, the way my name should be pronounced. From my response to Saniye and the tears in her dark green, sad eyes this poem was born. The poem was literally dictated to me in one minute; here it is, as my hand wrote it…

Arrival

Today, we submit to heaven’s words.
We stop wondering, lay the questions to rest
for a while…
No need to travel farther than your window sill,
sit still and bless your surrounding.
See the is-ness of the trees…
No longing for another land
or another moon.
Today, we are not seekers of the truth
or the beginnings of things.
Today, everything is solemnly waiting,
and a thousand hands are waiving,
celebrating your arrival!

— © Aïda Warah