Each Page.

By Abrahim Harb

(Dedicated to Elizabeth Gilbert)
It’s just like she said it would be—
I sit for hours, as she did,
in that mediation cave.
[Except I am on my “mediation couch”]
Reading this, is like true mediation—


I’d tell you, if I had the chance,
I’d do it myself.
Living through her book,
repeating that Sanskrit mantra every morning,
or eating out at a tiny restaurant with a new friend 

*                       *                      *                      *       

I’m alone in there, [well on my couch] as she says.
alone with her book,
following her adventure through India,
Om Namah Shivaya,
I begin to unknowingly, in my mind repeat it.
I’m doing this with her,
this experience she had.
I’m soaking in every experience,
every prayer,
custom
& tradition.


I’d tell you, if I had the chance,
I’d do it myself.
Living through her book.
Reading each word with care,
almost memorizing those lines,
as I forgo a year of my life,
searching for
everything & anything,
 within those parameters,
Just as she did.