A painting and excerpts from a poem by the same name
Sidrat-al-Muntaha: Lotus of The Limit
by Aïda Touré
Everywhere I look
it circles and circles!
My heart curves
to the calligraphy
of your Love.
.....
Each page, an immaculate cloak
around the gentle soul
who whirls to the tone
of the Return.
...
Sufi poet, author, and artist Aïda Touré lives and works in New York. She was born in Gabon, to a Malian Muslim father and to a Gabonese mother. The Sidrat al-Muntaha is a sacred lote tree which marks the end of the seventh heaven beyond which no creature can pass. It was here at this tree where Muhammed, accompanied by the angel Gabriel was given the 5 daily prayers for all Muslims. Touré shows this as a moment of delight and opening. Her work and the full text of her poem here: http://visualsufipoetry.com/sidrat-al-muntaha-lotus-of-the-limit/
***
Another painting and excerpts of a poem by Aïda Touré - both titled "Prelude to Majesty":
Al ikhlas, spherically ambient,
the heart leans on immanence,
look, we shed our selves,
souls dancing and whirling
in prelude to majesty, turn by turn,
we pick up the gems the prophets
scattered on the grounds for us;
in each one, a luminescence
infinitely undefined,
there are many paths in one
lo! in Hu’s pleasure,
lovers are refined.
Do you see the veil lifting?
Love speaks with no mouth,
we are interwoven with the signs
laid around us like sublime kisses.
Our all, lost in this splendid beauty,
we rejoice for the Garden is near,
Rubies dangle from the healing tree ...
Full text: http://visualsufipoetry.com/prelude-to-majesty/
Thank you, Aida, for sharing your Sacred Trees!
