The Longing Opening poem of best-seller  ‘The Unfurling’       POETRY readings – some examples are on youtube and soundcloud under “Nimah Nawwab” 

Ni’mah Isma’il Nawwab 

Freedom.
How her spirit
Haunts,
Hooks,
Entices us all

Freedom,
Will the time come
For my ideas to roam
Across this vast land’s deserts,
Through the caverns of the Empty Quarter?

For my voice to be sent forth,
Crying out in the stillness of a quiet people,
A voice among the voiceless?

For my thoughts, that hurl around
In a never-ending spiral,
To settle
Mature, grow and flourish
In a barren wasteland of shackled minds?

Will my spirit be set free—
To soar above the undulating palm fronds?
Will my essence and heart be unfettered,
Forever
Freed,
Of man-made Thou Shall Nots?

Copyright © Nimah Ismail Nawwab 2004. All rights reserved. Permission to reprint for non-commercial use is available upon request.

The Ambush
Ni’mah Isma’il Nawwab
He watched the old movie unfold,
The head-covered man bashing his van into a building,
Nodding his head: ‘Yes another one, they are terrorists,’
The calm way he uttered those words
The look in his young eyes,
Made me
ache.

For they had won,
Hands down,
they had won,
Ultimately,
they had won,
Their hollow victory,
turning the world upon itself.

Those demented fanatics have implanted the bitter seeds,
Our young believing that terror is here to stay,
Questioning their identity constantly,
Questioning elements of society, a fact
Could I really answer?
Did I even want to answer?
No justification, no excuse can wipe,
Needless deaths, destruction of innocents.
Not a single life lost,
could be justified.

The land turned into a big-gated occupied territory
The once-peaceful kingdom rent with shootouts,
As the tolerance of our spiritual beliefs
Is hijacked,
twisted,
used.

Power-hungry zealots
Misguided by the need for vengeance,
Vengeance against perceived,
Unacceptable ways of life,
Those whose hearts have been wiped clean,
Clean of the basic tolerance for fellow man,
A tolerance making the religion thrive,
A spirit attracting billions to the faith,
All dashed on the rocks
In the surging, ravaging river
Of loathing the Other.

As the very essence of our faith
Now stands in danger
Of this ambush from within,
Turning back upon them,
Derailing their intentions
As hate colors their vision of the truth,
That we are all, all, all
Sons and daughters of Adam,
That the three faiths,
Our mainstay, our guide
Are interlinked,
bonded forever,
Sealed by The One
To spread their message
of peace
for human kind.

Copyright © Nimah Ismail Nawwab 2004. All rights reserved. Permission to reprint for non-commercial use is available upon request.

 For selections of other poems check out Nimah’s  work in The Unfurling, Canvas of the Soul, anthologies such as Side by Side, Gathering The Tide  all available on Amazon.com

And also on http://www.universeofpoetry.org  – Nimah’s work featured under Poets by Nation- Saudi Arabia 

 Blackbird Literary Review at http://www.blackbird.vcu.edu/v9n2/poetry_gulf/nawwab_n/illusions_page.shtml

Other Voices Project Anthology http://www.othervoicespoetry.org/vol14/nawwab/index.html 

Also Nawwabbooks on fb and twitter for latest news of readings, performances and events.  Readings and lectures also on youtube.