Belly Dancer Meets Hilāl as Horseman by Rushda Rafeek

Belly Dancer Meets Hilāl as Horseman Hilāl, you scimitar of fajr-blue spring above the vast patio tousled with tendrils thick as century, as rose-windows raying a kiss in sujood. Here, arms sprawl like date palms. Here, I’m falcon than fellahin serpent than sequined. Here, I riot through Nile, spin all dervish parabolic all antique euphoric while the horseman quiet as a dome, watched. Beard caliph-white sniffing saharan that daubs a tambourine with hoodoo. I will havoc your harems, he sneers wickedly, fists born on breast swelling a locust’s trance.   Note: Hilal is the Arabic term for crescent moon that originated from the Pre-Islamic Arabia. - Rushda Rafeek is based in Colombo, Sri Lanka. From the works published in numerous literary journals is a Pushcart nomination and the winner of the Nâzım Hikmet Annual Poetry Contest (2018). She is currently working on a first collection of poems.