My melodious friend, my agile brother
You sharp tongued devil
Indeed, God was your strength
As you abused your power
Forsaking me to the abyss
As we fell from on high
Old Gibreel, you lucky bastard
How beautiful you are
How great it must be to be famous
To languish so beautifully in their applause
So effortlessly
While I ploughed the earth, face-first
With a mouth full of sand
You danced on your way to the ground
And landed, tippy toes, with a song in your heart
-o0o-
This poem was submitted as a part of Poetry Potion's "A Poem a day" challenge. The topic was "The Satanic Verses: the title of Salman Rushdie’s fourth novel." Poetry Potion also requires a person to add additional information or a glossary in a paragraph below each poem if necessary. Here's what I wrote:
The story in the Satanic Verses begins with Gibreel and Saladin falling from an exploded aeroplane, Gibreel having taken on the spirit of the Archangel Gabriel/Jibril and Saladin having taken on the spirit of Satan/Shaitan. Saladin remains jealous and spiteful towards Gibreel throughout the story. Gibreel is treated with respect and Saladin is treated with suspicion. Saladin drives Gibreel to commit suicide eventually among other things. Given that the story is loosely based on the story of Mohammed, it can be understood why this story caused so much outrage in a world in which Mohammed is seen as the perfect prophet.
Gabriel in Hebrew means God is my strength
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