The Ruba'Iyat of Creteil Lake - Part Twenty-Two

The Ruba’iyat of Créteil Lake – Part Twenty-Two The day broke on this fateful date like gravestones pushed asunder Transcontinental wagons hooted their humming blared thunder The Faithful six million alerted to the confrontation Made their way in unison to the muezzin’s call yonder The lake’s squadrons of Bernache geese trumpeted in response Took to swooping in formation along national routes dense The Faithful abandoned their vehicles and bikes at will Once they converged on the citadel at siege with incense Even pole stars at noon hiding behind clouds claimed no rights Congregations of men and women choked the portals’ lights More than plain portables buzzed during sacred ablutions Plane loads from Maghreb to Middle East had Orly in their sights Even as the last words of chour sermon filled Faithful ears Jellaba white under black overcoat chador black in tears Strode out to form thick walls of human flesh like parapets Sandwiched between Robo-Cops and theirs furies of chanting Dears They came by plane by cars by buses till arteries choked Till crammed railroads and metros screeched under loads unlocked Clutching Hadith books they sang or murmured psalms and sayings Pilgrims treading on well-worn Compostela routes unhooked © T. Wignesan – Paris, 2014