The Importance of Vowels   Luxenberg tries to show that many obscurities of the Koran disappear if we read certain words as being Syriac and not Arabic. . . . In Syriac, the word hur is a feminine plural adjective meaning white, with the word “raisin” understood implicitly . . . not unsullied maidens or houris.           — IBN WARRAQ, The Guardian, January 11, 2002   The maître d’ is sharply dressed in tie and tails, he greets you warmly, Welcome, sir! We’ve been expecting you! And as you eye the maidens at the bar, selecting, sure of all your righteous consequence, a waiter approaches with a bright, blinding smile, and on his fingertips, elaborately wrought, a silver tray with something piled beneath a silken napkin. Sir! he says, plucking off the silk, Before we begin, your seventy-two raisins! Let us praise Him! With that, he vanishes in a thin blue wisp of smoke. The virgins are gone. You invoke your god. A low voice answers, Who?     © Michael Fleming Brattleboro, Vermont July 2013