Your Mayjana

By  Ibtisam Abujad

That it is mayjana…ya mayjana
Ephemeral chimes flowing 
As she lifts into the air
I catch her, packaging her 
As I had when her heart sang the rhythm with mine 
My mayjana, I remember swaying 
Comforted by the jolts of the beating feet 
She twisted and danced, hand in hand
With time and dahr closer to her than the strings that bind me to my mayjana
The tree of giving, 
the earth from which we were forged 
An-Nafs, it is she who gave birth to the drums 
Do you not hear the strings, the purrs, and the hums… and the toes, the thumbs
Strings broken, verses sung on womb, I mean, tomb carvings 
Etched in raspberry and cherry pies, tart but ever so sweet they echo
I hold my mayjana, from the ana born of may 
Doubled, tripled 
Golden leaves sprouting from calcified limbs-evergreens 
Mayjana, Mayjana, for you have leaved and left 
The song of the wind swings your vines 
Rattles you into a world of drums, they tap
I await the day my mayjana, when your roots can find the trace 
and your strings have once again been thread
Then I will finally hear the chimes of 
mayjana…your mayjana

 

Ibtisam Abujad is an instructor and doctoral student at Marquette University in Milwaukee, WI.