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.