Before I became a woman whose gaze reached toward infinity 
I walked hand in hand with my father in the fragrant market 
Fingers interwoven like the knots of my mother’s rug 
Eyes carefully fixed on the potholed street 
That I would not lose my way 
Among the spires that sliced the clouds 
Maybe you do not know 
My father named me for the sea and ancient river 
That cradle the once-shining city of my birth 
Among all the drops that fill the oceans of the world 
I always knew I was beloved 
For even as a child I was allowed 
To hold the Universe in my hands 
And look beyond the circumscribed fate of those 
Who would become our daughters 
Toward the place where you can read my name 
Indelibly written among the stars 

* Publisher’s Notes:

1. The astrolabe was invented in ancient Greece circa 225 BCE, but was refined by scientists and craftsmen in the Middle East over several centuries.

In the tenth century CE, Al-'Ijliya (now known as Mariam Al-Astrulabi) was a female astronomer and maker of astrolabes in Aleppo, in what is now northern Syria. Her complex and innovative astrolabes so impressed the Emir of Aleppo, Sayf al-Dawla, that he employed her in his court. Mariam’s father was engineer and astrolabe-maker Al-'Ijli Al-Astrulabi, and both father and daughter were apprentices of Betolus (also known as Nastulus), a master astrolabe-maker in Baghdad.

All three are mentioned in the only historical record of Mariam’s existence, Al-Fihrist, the bibliographical catalog by Ibn al-Nadim (ca. 935–995 CE). She is listed as Al-'Ijliya, with no first name, among 15 other engineers and instrument-makers, and is the only woman mentioned.

Sources: Wikipedia; and Section 7 of Women’s Contribution to Classical Islamic Civilisation: Science, Medicine and Politics by Professor Salim Al-Hassani at Muslim Heritage (republished 11 February 2020 for International Day of Women and Girls in Science). Links retrieved on 30 July 2023.

2. Named in Mariam’s honor: the main-belt asteroid (7060) Al-'Ijliya, discovered by Henry E. Holt at Palomar Observatory in 1990. She was also the inspiration for the main character in Binti, the novella by Nnedi Okorafor, which won the 2016 Hugo Award and 2016 Nebula Award, both for Best Novella. (Wikipedia; link retrieved on 30 July 2023.)

Marianne Tefft

is a poet and voice-over reader who daylights as a Montessori teacher in Sint Maarten. Her poems and short stories appear online and in print in North America, Asia, Europe and the Caribbean. She is the author of the poetry collections Full Moon Fire: Spoken Songs of Love and Moonchild: Poems for Moon Lovers.