Maqam choonim

if…
i could only imagine it
i can’t even

an ideal, a concept,
a perfection i want
to improvise for you
better than any poem
better than any letter
better than any
mere word or melody

a taksim, a chant,
an older than old-school lament,
the good kind, that brings us to
a peace you so need and deserve

it’s there, etched in our souls
coded in our dna
i am not good enough
or worthy enough, not able,
to extract it and even less able
to play it…

it is there, i feel it
it is sweet
    but not too sweet
it is sad
    but not too sad
it is joyful
    but not very happy

in a maqam no one
    has ever heard or played
but sounding so very
    familiar

so very familiar…