“I turned the handle with my quivering hand
My heart lamented as the door opened,
I dreaded facing him after so long,
I planned I’d throw myself before his feet,
When suddenly every single thing vanished
My house, my friends, myself and nothing else remained.
And then I found myself not in my room
But on the lonely street, there, shivering
Before me stood a great, glistening door
It opened and my old friend emerged,
He covered me with warm, comforting robes
He wrapped me in His unifying glow,
He sheltered me from sorrow and the cold,
And I had been a homeless, wretched soul,
And by His love I’d finally returned home”

from The Homecoming of my old friend

-Novid Shaid

in A KALEIDOSCOPE OF STORIES
Muslim Voices in Contemporary Poetry
Coming soon from Lote Tree Press