Forever

by Abdi Taslimi

A line was drawn

To hang my crimes

I'm hanging on

To climbing vines

I'll wait for you

Beneath the moon

It never ends.

Hyacinth Head

by Abdi Taslimi

The moon is rising above mirrored towers.

She drifts over tangled black roads.

The moon is always watching.

But he has never seen me, rushing to his door.

Our teeth collide.

He's laughing now.

While distant waves crash, dark and sweet.

And when he sleeps, the stars wish upon his hyacinth head.

The Bells

by Abdi Taslimi

These shivering bells

Like Saturn's rings

They call your name

And wait for dawn

On crystal ships

Or ruined earth

This golden dream

Will end in tears

Hypnagogic Fragment No.3

by Abdi Taslimi

Tall palms glittered and swooned on silvery winds.

The black night sighed through feverish tears.

I stood below the starlit garland at midnight.

But you made no sign.

Ghosts of San Francisco

Abdi Taslimi.  MMIV.

The End Of Days

by Abdi Taslimi

You are my angel

My baptist in chains

My soft leather volume

My breathless remains

You are my tower

My god-fearing name

My lisping patrician

My infinite shame

You are my victim

My milky way slave

My cloven-hoofed master

My crushed velvet grave

You are my prophet

My chalice and blade

My little green flower

My moonlit parade

You are my mirror

My amethyst gate

My attar of roses

My caspian fate

You are my brother

My serpentine gaze

My quivering archer

The end of my days

Prussian Blue

by Abdi Taslimi

Beneath those dark eyes

Something was sparkling

As if the sun had rolled off your tongue

And danced like a little diamond

Through languorous locks of golden hair

On pale shoulders, gently sloping 

Before dropping into the flaming seat

Of your piscean throne

Where your court was all hung

In black and in blue

Our siamese venus

With succulent blooms

Your kiss was a flame

In a shadowy tomb

And the sound of snakes moving

Through clovers and rue

Your kiss was a knife

Through a black glassy pool

Bright sapphires seared

My lips prussian blue

O, alabaster obelisk!

You pierce the flushed moon

You are dancing in fire

You rise and you fall

Until nothing is left

But gold vapour and death

Then you slip behind veils

In a wild cloud of smoke

The marble faun trembles

His violets all crushed

And he crashes to earth

Where his fountain is touched

Laura

Abdi Taslimi.  MMVIII.

My Dark Cypress

by Abdi Taslimi

Sweet Eros lies dreaming

On a bed of young myrtle

The sad stars gaze

My dark cypress waits

Emeralds flash like Persian cats

And fountains rise to lick your silver throat

O!  How I loved that silvery creature!

With gold and opals and a thousand pale roses

And little white clouds

That slipped into bed

To be bathed in the rain

Of those crystal spires

When the last page is torn

From our calendar of shrouds

And this bedroom

Is but a kingdom of tears

Then I'll swallow the Nile

To catch what Isis never could

Desire/Alone

Abdi Taslimi.  MMVII.

Ashes

by Abdi Taslimi

And on that bed
Two moons appeared

Like fair-haired twins
With moonlit cheeks

Silken, swollen and savagely bare
Those halves revealed a balmy vale

And in darkly humid shadows
Something wild unfurled upon the floor

Then he stretched and sighed

Like a tortured sphinx

And his secret was lost
As ashes to the wind

The Dreaming God

Abdi Taslimi.  MMVII.

Hypnagogic Fragment No.2

by Abdi Taslimi

Strike!  O tender serpent!

Dripping sweet venom

The tender serpent strikes!

Hypnagogic Fragment No.1

by Abdi Taslimi

Quartz points rise!

The golden vessel is full.