Hymn to the Muezzin

I was with you as we climbed
Galata tower's stairs
Your ragged prayers took flight
And I pursued
I was with you as
You aspired to feel
The heights of prayer
Anew

And from the mosque's high walls
Your broken calls
Rang breaking the dawn
Straight through
Torn out from and sent above
Your devoted cries for love
Against the dawn
Broke you

Your minarets from Istanbul
Are still willing to call
Over the west and the lands of ill
Deep in the soul of all

One enters the beloved holy
Hidden under the veil
One enters lowly
Like the martyrs' head rolling bare
But I entered whirling slowly
On the repeating squares
Hearing your towers
Full of prayer

Your mouth now is drowned
Your head left hanging there
In this dawn where you've broken
In the air
The dervish whirl to dare to drown
The great halls with prayer
You let your calls shower down
From the tower's ledge

Your minarets from Istanbul
Are still willing to call
Over the west and the lands of ill
Deep in the soul of all

So I'll meet you late
In the silent house
Where the sufi's
In annihilation spin
O muezzin rise and praise
Let your calls find their way
Their way to your lips
For the dawn's rise again

You cry
Oh lonely light of truth
Like lightning
All alone you fall
I am here
I am naked totality
Deep in the soul of all

Your minarets from Istanbul
Are still willing to call
Over the west and the lands of ill
Deep in the soul of all