I am your double coursed
Sister
I am rescuing you
Slowly slowly
My modal figure
My yearning for voice.
I am a single line
I am the melodic snake
Advancing by half-flats.
I am the hands of Ziryab
The blackbird
The one born in Baghdad.
I am oud player to the court
Of the Umayyads
Cordoba
8th century,
Ziryab
The dark one.
I am your hands
I am the reeshi in your hands
The eagle feather
As you pluck the strings.
I am the fifth course of strings
Introduced by Ziryab –
the soul —
added to the four courses
the four humors of Aristotle.
I am the soul —
The fifth course.
I am the Jew
Oud player to the court of the King of Morocco
I left everything in Rabat
Now I sit in Beer Sheva
And I will not leave again.
I am the hands of the old man
Sitting by the Seven Wells
The sixth course
A single string
I am resolute
The absolute
The sixth course.
I am your hands.
jsg, usa