ramadhan.1428-2007.amman.3

just before we woke for sahoor
– like 4 a.m. –
i heard
someone or some people
walking around the neighborhood
drumming a repetitive beat
with a single, high, mysterious tenor
curving in and out of the rhythm.

i got up and looked out of the window
to see if i could see who it was,
but i couldn’t remember where i put my glasses
and didn’t want to wake aya in the search.

while we were eating
i asked ishaq if he had heard the drumming.
i told him that i’d gotten up and looked through all our windows
to try to see who it was.
he said that he had heard it
and he’d wanted to try to see who it was
so he could tell them to shut up. (smile)