We call each other by names,
In fact all just rolls on and on without
        aims---
Just the routine heat of our daily 'talk;'
If it then be that we in harmony no more
       'walk,'

Nor with joy together quietly rejoice,
Then, though it troubles me inside, yet
        I've no choice

But to leave you, dearest, unattended
By the passion I've borne for you,
       alone uncontented:

Let me to injustice be done,
Than do it myself--from which in heart I
        shun.
                                               -by
                                   Hakim H. Kassim.
                                  (d. November 25, 1991)

flight,
light.
change. . .'plse!
plse understand!'
hindsight,
through the night.
no love lost,
'america' divorced.
'america' contorted
   me--glad i'm deported.
the devil'll come out of america, yes,
            ask me, I'll attest.'

                  -by Hakim Kassim.
                   (June, 2023)

(for my wife, Huda Hassan Osman)

  As on the wings of time I fly,
And pass over the years with no sigh,
  Winning and losing with no cry,
This prayer I make in all try:

  That I lose not your face night and day,
And find you by my side all the way,
  Then come what come may,
I shall have kept all gloom at bay.

                                           -by
                                  Hakim H. Kassim.
                                  (d. August 5, 2017)

New spring wind, a cold  sick fate
  For me that I've not seen you for years,
Though I loved, and still do, forever
             in-wait-
 Ah! that you  come but to quiet these
            my lonely tears;
I need you now more than before,
  Spring may come, and  summer follow
           with joy and laugher,
Something without you is broken at my
           core,
We parted, a long time has passed,  I've
          not been alive after
  I've come to see your smile no more, no
          more kiss
On your lips, that sound of your voice--
         are you not now dead,
  And where are you if alive, where's all,
         the love and promise,
So much time without you, our years are
         closing-in, soon to be led
  To sudden goodbyes, then the eerie
         silence of lonely graves
   Where we cannot meet,
O me--was that "all" Love gives?
         
                                        -by
                            Hakim H.Kassim.
                            (d. May 01,2023)

i've not been  given a chance.
to speak out my  mind,
let alone pour  out my  soul at once;
i 'm still seeking a way  to bind
wound i suffered that remain tense,
on myself and on others i love,
forever vivid and true  in real sense--
a surreal weight over my soul unwilling
         to move.

                                             -by
                                   Hakim H. Kassim.
                                  (d. March 01, 2023)
                                   /-Jigjiga.

nods, gracious,
quiet harmonious.

reborn gleam?
recalling the  dream.

wanting . . .
feeling. . .  . .

siezed in wonder,
left to ponder.

sound  in  melody:
some  sign--suddenly!

no, don't be too curious,
it'll leave you serious!

heart cries,
time flies---

mind tries,
the eye sighs--:

words over ocean---
hope in motion.

truly harmless,
not a license for happiness.

look deep down,  inside,
beyond bounds of pride:

'no more excuses,'
the poetic mind muses,

my hand grabs  your thigh,
but you left without a 'bye,'

ah-and to where 'lost?'
when I  need you  most?
     
                                              -by
                                  Hakim H. Kassim.
                                 (d.January 25.2022)
                                  /-Jigjiga.

But the bonds of birth, of life and its toils,
Planted by me Becoming, never Being,
To the bright hearts of those 'forever
         loves,'
Cherished by them, though glorified by
        me only,
Stand tall against my thought of trip.
Many a time have I sunk in deep thought,
Wet and trapped like a caught fish, in
        doubt,
Many a time have I heard my heart
        aloud!
The riches and rages Nature
        endowed  upon us,
And the laughs by Fate  at those who fail,
While hand in hand working together,
Reward each of us by  merits of known
         deeds:
Peace to him who persists in action,
To him poverty who rests in pestilent
        wealth--
For the world belongs to him who knows
        how!

                                           -by
                               Hakim H. Kassim.
                               (February, 1990)