To Him We Shall Return

We laugh, we smile, we frown and cry,
but never really do we ask why.
Our lives are full of stress and perspiration,
results, achievements, but never satisfaction.
We keep working and working ignoring this question,
this cycle we follow with false inspiration.
Consumed in this rat race, forgetting our true meaning,
forgetting the true purpose behind our temporary being.

Stop! for just one moment if you’re pleased.
Think of your Lord and ask to be relieved,
of this burdened lifestyle in which we’re engulfed,
and ask for paradise as our end result.

Think of the way we prioritize this world,
although in 40 or 50 years we will be hurled,
above the heads of our children.
And laid down beneath the ground we once walked on.

The nature of death is like no other,
no guarantee a son will die after his mother.
Yet we all agree that for every birth,
that every being will return to the earth.
Not knowing when our time will be,
The lives we lead are wrong, can’t you see?
This life’s a transit don’t you realize?
It’s time that we learn to prioritize,
between acts that will determine our final destination,
and acts that will merely sweeten this transition.

And it’s when you come upon this realization,
that the skies clear up for clear observation.
You begin to see the true meaning of this test.
That no man is greater than the rest,
merely for his power or wealth,
or for his stamina or his health.
For these are attributes we leave behind,
in this life we lead largely blind.
Wake up and remember the next line and learn,
that from God we come,and to Him we shall return.


~ Mohamed Abdulhai