“after the long night on the open plain
where you gathered stones then slept out under the sky
the lights
exhausted but light after the long day’s standing
at Arafat
but moreso
before your Lord hands lifted or cupped or covering your face
to capture your tears
impossible to believe that just that morning you woke in your tent in Mina
a galaxy away
where you had readied yourself for just that moment
walking through the sudden city
hearing every language
seeing every color of skin
now wrapped in white
all different
all the same
with no contradiction”

from Eid al-Adha 2019
– Ray Lacina
in a KALEIDOSCOPE OF STORIES
Muslim Voices in Contemporary Poetry
Coming soon from Lote Tree Press