Still Steel | #Hei Xuanfeng

STILL STEEL by Hei Xuanfeng

Still you are the cool wind from the 99 hills
Still you are the black rose of Kordofan and still

You are the most beautiful daughter of Taharka and still
Visions of your dark lips enter my dreams at will

Still your cool, dark-brown skin I long to feel
Still, and yet still, I long for you & love you still

The dark sky with its new moon reminds me of your smile, still.
And every hot night and the sweat it brings rings a familiar bell

Of sensual nights in Khartoum, when the winds were still
Through dusty days and dust storms, we made passionate love still

Still I remember the ice buckets with which we kept cool and still
Real still, then movement and yet still, I long for you & love you still

Still the Blue Nile ripples your sacred name and I feel
The warmth of the kiss of your Black Stone and still

I travel around your sacred house like a tireless wheel
Non-stop in endless rotations, yearning to see you and still

I hear your laughter at the meetings of the Blue & the White, still
Still, as these sacred waters meet, I long for you & love you still.

And as everlasting as the Sphinx, as unending as the Nile, still
My love for you creeps,

Making my pain real.

Yet still I remain honored by the time shared with you and still
I see the good you have done for me and yes, your love I can still feel

Still, as still as the moonless night,

Aa real as iron or even blue steel, still
I yearn for you, sacred daughter of delight, I long for you & love you still

As still as the darkest moonless night, your love encompasses me still
Still I taste your fusuulia, zugni, wayqa and your sweet lemony mango,

Sweet and cool like the fresh winds blowing over the Nuba hills
Of you I can’t get my fill, and yet still, I long for you and love you still.

Like a sweet black Medinan date, your freshness entices me still
Like the cool sweetness of abray aswad, your kiss I long to feel

Like the legendary black Arabian stallion, striding across desert hills
I crave to be carried on the saddle of your love, treading and riding still

As long as the east wind blows and stirs up the black roses of Kadugli, still
I will love you above all others and my affection for you will never fail

You are the Black Stone shining brightly in the corner of my heart, and still
I make tawaf of your sacredness without end, making sure to embrace and feel

The black kiswa draped over ebony hued skin, whose touch is so real
Oh mother of my four elements: water, fire, earth & air— the 4 sons of steel.

You are my sacred precinct, my joyous delight and ebony beauty
Still after 20 years and 20 verses, yet still, I long for you and love you still.

SAI Sabouke
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Sai Sabouke is a writer living in New Bussa, Nigeria. He’s a dervish who sees Sufism, history and language as formidable tools for society regeneration. His writing has appeared in Praxis Magazine Online and Agbowo. Sabouke loves beans, coffee and dreams of roasting the entrails of vultures.