and then our exile

dawn is my favourite time of year.

it is after the predawn temperature has fallen around the earth. even night until this point lasts the residue of resentful heat and a clamminess remembering old sweat cast by the star above. it is when many things are possible. midmorning is except in rare cases depressing, afternoon is competition. early night is relief, determination, a set jaw to attend the ways of being, firm of resolution after the debacle of day. later night is a time of wonder, when few are awake. but dawn is more even.

dawn is the time of old men.

realized fewer chances to do this, so to rukniyyah for fajr after a night spent in different ways, a kitten twining its way around our legs as we stood in rows. orange and white and black, what are you doing here and smile. met m and i there, they told me of two talibs disappeared recently, the mkb responsible. and others, disappeared and beaten and then deported. it is not a good time to be british in damascus. met previous arabic teacher on the way here, and soon to sleep. tahseen has this schedule where he sleeps from fajr till dhohr but makes every salah in the masjid. i'd do that except for morning classes, i have taken zacharia's time from shaikh anas, and so in four hours there is balaghah and other glory to see. electric lights to shield us from reality. old haunts, note my passing in the objective record.

most questions, i think, can be reduced to a matter of Will.

how do you like living alone, asked tonight, and me it is amazing.

if okgo can do it, so can we. right? [fishnets and malice], these things amuse me, this time of morning. and the good, bad, and ugly as "you are the fajr of my heart".

now i'm going to sleep.

ps. sabbarah season is starting. who knows the englisch name of this cactus? "you missed the peaches the oranges and apricots," z told me last year, "but you are here for the most important fruit of all."
pps. [www.sunniforum.com]
ppps. mashari rashed has a voice to bring tears from dead hearts. qari from kuwayt, i think i have mentioned him before, heard him today in maktabatur-rifaa'i.