Selected poems from 'Tabular Rasa' by Jeff Raheb

  • Havana      
  • Paro Dzhong - Bhutan      
  • Dal Lake - Kashmir      
  • Bamboo      
  • The Center      
  • I Pour You A Cup Of Tea      
  • For The Women Of Bosnia      
  • You Say It Is Raining      
  • Zimbabwe      
  • The Comet      
  • Pygmalion      
  • Ganges      
  • Nasca - Peru      
  • Zu Twa Szi      
  • Body Rain      
  • The Shadow Puppet (Jogjakarta )                      
  • Songkla - Thailand      
  • 5 Haikus
  • Zu Twa Szi

    (Don't Mind Me I'm Just The Wind - African saying)

    Don't mind me I'm just the wind
    You can scream into me if you want
    I'll just toss the sound around
    until it wallows into melody

    You can dry tears by me if you need
    I'll just carry their saltiness back to the sea
    You can try to keep me from your skin
    with all the skill of a master builder

    But I'll search out every opening there is
    and rub against all your privacy
    without a second thought
    I have no manners or morals or modesty
    or inhibitions or judgments
    I won't reveal your whispers
    I'll dissolve them

    I won't discuss your secret doings
    I'll scatter them
    I won't scorn your libidinous thoughts
    I'll caress them
    If you rail against me
    or try to beat me with your fists
    I'll just part like the red sea
    and move to both sides
    of where your fists have been

    You can spit at me when you're angry
    I'll just spray it back in your face

    You see I'm just the wind
    I don't hold your happiness when you laugh
    Or your loneliness when you cry
    I don't hold your anger when you scream
    Only you can do that

    I'm just the wind
    a traveler
    With no baggage or destination
    With nothing to see and nowhere to be seen
    Seemingly nothing

    You are the absence of space
    that merely hinders my journey


    Copyright 2004 Jeff Raheb