I Don’t Know Any Other Way

by Shahbano Aliani 

i love You 

like a sky full of monsoon clouds 

loves the earth

with abundance 

with abandon 

without reserve 

and like 

the sky full of monsoon clouds

i want to become 

a million 

tiny 

glistening 

tear drop

stars of water 

that pour 

day after day 

night after night 

without pause 

without fear 

until the very last drop 

is dissolved 

and obliterated 

in the ground 

of Your Being, 

has become pure, silent,

emptiness

i love You like this 

because like the sky 

and its monsoon clouds i don’t know 

any. other. way.

By Shahbano Aliani, in A Kaleidoscope of Stories: Muslim Voices in Contemporary Poetry (Lote Tree Press, 2020)  www.lotetreepress.com