gem

a poem by su'ad abdul-khabeer. i couldn't find any way to contact her to let her know how much i loved this poem.

some of my sisters
are in combat
with ideas newly born and words older than the world;
yet, to cover or not to cover
Is not my battleground.

Because
among His signs is
watching your sista
hi-jab
the painstakingly smooth way
she pins, wraps, folds, tucks
her crown into place.
Because I wear it well,
this divine design.
whether wrapped high
or draped low and wide,
what better garment
for a Queen
than her crown?
And a beautiful person is a Godly thing.

To cover or not to cover
Is not my battleground.

They’d like to paint me
unseen
with a veil gagging my intellect,
while in truth the whole world is clocking
this invisible woman.

Young men in fitted caps
whisper
“Damn”
deep in sly glances,
Others offer courtesies in appreciation.
Women honor us openly or
with their arrogance,
And the press
can’t get enough of us.
See, clothes do not hide the woman
They announce her.

To cover or not to cover
Is not my battleground.

...And which of the favors of your lord will ye deny?
Not a one.
I am the world’s most visible creature
And His most beautiful.