Capacity

After September
Eleventh
Afghan widows
opened their ears
(akasha*)
To the familiar tale
of the broken hearts
of women
in "that village
in New York"
where a bombing had occurred.
akasha.

In one village
burka'd hearts
unreserved
gathered from their hens
and offered up
their very best.
akasha!

Eggs--
sustenance in tiny wombs
(akasha)
Heart offerings
flown
half a world 'round
on
Air-currents
(akasha)
transmuted
into Love-currents.
akasha! akasha!

Listen to the wind--
it whispers the tale
as loudly
as the rhythm
of an open heart.
"Akasha!"

--Pamela Dawn

*Today, my bus ride reading was the chapter in "The Heart of Sufism: the Essential Writings of Hazrat Inayat Khan" entitled "Capacity." The word "akasha" was defined in this manner:

"The Hindu name for capacity is akasha. People generally think that akasha means the sky, but in reality it means everything. Everything in its turn is an akasha, just as all substance is a capacity: and according to that capacity it produces what it is meant to produce."

"...We ourselves are also akashas, and in our akasha we get resonance of our rhythm. This resonance is like the feelings we have when we are tired, depressed, joyous, or strengthened. All these different conditions which we feel, it is our akasha that feels them: and what causes this is our rhythm."

"...In the Qur'an it is said, 'Their hands shall speak and their feet shall bear witness of their deeds," which means...that everything is recorded, written down...Nothing of what we say, do, or think is lost: it is recorded somewhere, if we only know how to read it."
(Sufi Message 11: 20-24, Hazrat Inayat Khan)

Sometimes that message is written on the wind...Akasha!