All 

of what

I would want my child to know

my poems attempt.

 

We are infants before each other, are we not,

so vulnerable to each other’s words and 

movements.

 

A school I sat in cured me of hurting others.

 

I have come to see that all are seated at God’s table, 

and I have become God’s

servant.

 

Sometimes God is too shy to speak in public

and so God

pinches me.

 

That 

is my cue —

to fill in the blanks of your

understanding

 

the best I 

can.

 

 

Since no one really knows anything about God,

those who think they do are just

troublemakers.

 

She is without a doubt the most popular and influential of female Islamic saints and a central figure in the Sufi tradition.  Having been born nearly 500 years before Rumi, she, more than any other poet, influenced his writings.  Reading Rabia is like reading Rumi or Hafez – in the original.