Translated from Arabic by Mirna Nehme
Cover by Randa Baini
**
MY AMAZING JOURNEY
WITH CHARBEL BAINI
By Mirna Nehme
And what an amazing one it is!
Almost two years ago, I contacted Charbel seeking musical help and with a very friendly, gentle, sweet voice he started asking me questions about my music and my past experiences.
I was persistent to pursue more with my art and something within told me that Charbel is the one to lead me. We had a long discussion and eventually he asked me to send him a demo of my voice recording.
With a great excitement I did so not realizing what was in store for me. Three weeks passed by and still not hearing a response from Charbel. I became anxious but as I was reading my e-mails I was overwhelmed and blown away. Charbel has already sent the words of a hymn asking me to compose the music for it.
I stood gazing, confused not knowing what to do. Straight away, I called him telling him that I will never be able to carry this task which I never experienced in my entire life but he was very adamant and with an encouraging firm tone he said: Mirna, you have a special talent, you have an awesome voice and I will not accept a refusal from you. Trust in god and you will achieve this task with a huge success.
Of course, I had no choice and I began the adventure with joy, fear, doubts but with the lord's help and the endless encouragement of our sweet poet i succeeded.
Towards the end of this project, I was surprised last year with Charbel Baini's award which is surely a huge responsibility.
Soon after, another challenge came my way. Charbel rang me up and proposed to me the translation of “Ancient Migrant” poems.
Once again, I got worried as it is not easy to keep the same feelings which the poet portrayed in his writing and not losing the real context. I was reluctant for a little while but I agreed to the request and after few months I accomplished the translation with a wonderful success and support from the readers.
Yes, this is my amazing journey with Charbel Baini, the unique person, poet who never ceases to encourage me, guide me and who knows what more is hidden for me?
THANK YOU ENDLESSLY
THANK YOU ABUNDANTLY
MY DEAR CHARBEL.
**
THE LONG EXILE
-1-
They wrote me on the lips of their children
A poem to their country
Inflamed in fire,
Agony and destruction,
And on the death bed they said to me:
Oh! Long exile,
Tell them what happened
With the tears of the timid eyes
Which froze on the childhood cheeks
And never washed the traces of their farness
-2-
And they said to me:
Our fatigue tired out
And the age plagued
And from the sweat of our prayers
Drank the prayer book
And the houses where we grew up
And built their walls with our hands
And knitted its terraces with our feet
Denied us
And the mother who wept for us
We hid her pictures in our eyes,
Before the sunset, we sent her letters,
She did not open,
She did not read,
In the fire place in front of her house
She burnt them.
Surely, due to our long absence
She forgot us
And in her pure heart our love died.
-3-
Oh exile of long days,
Oh exile of misery and exhaustion,
Tell me before you tell them:
What is hidden for me?
**
KINGDOM OF TALK
-1-
I thought that I talked
But talk is a fog
I see it as I walk
A shining spark of a match
-2-
Don't say that I heard
My talk is tangible
Its letters on a paper I gathered
And I hung them in a pin,
An icon on the chest of the universe
The colour in love with it
And in it the perfume imprisoned.
-3-
In teary nights,
I mixed from the soil of talk
A human being
I ask: he answers
I am sad: he reproaches me
And draws in my Palm a kingdom
Of smoky threads
And says: Oh, my son,
You are the king
How beautiful you are,
I threw the entire world
In your hands to pass time
God created it complicated,
Do not upset the lord
With your boldness, solve it.
-4-
I laughed when I said:
I arrived
Where? Not known
And the path in front of me
Compacted with my bones,
With laments however I leaned
It breaks my words
With sighs which stood rows
On my dreams beaches
And what a falling thought
Never after it a fall
Million small letters
Gather as a guard
On the sides of a tear
And boil my blood
Increase my worry
How do I write quickly?
And the age is a spark
How do I accompany the word?
And the return is not safe!
**
A FOOL IS ASKING
-1-
Migration with black eyes
Not even twenty said:
What are you hoping for?
My miserable poet
You are drawing the return
On rising waves,
Between you and them years
Here you have a house,
There you do not
You carried your hardship and left,
No one supported you
Nor the government wants you
Nor your people embraced you
And the soil was disgusted
From the sweat of your elbow
I am the only one
Who protected you from treason
To overcome your conditions
Who are you without migration?
Tired out by your letters,
Crucified by your poetry
And blood on your palms
They expelled you, I took you in
They hated you, I loved you
You gathered my money,
You were bountiful to your country
You married me,
You deprived me of your children
Why are not you satisfied?
You are living in my heart
And your heart in Lebanon
-2-
I told it: I did not betray you
During these years
Nor did I forget your remunerations
In you I endured agony
To repay you your sorrow
With my body perspiration
I scented your feet,
Gather the gift
And scatter it on you
I came to you young
And I forgot to flirt
In you I suffered so much
And the age goes on
Where will I be!?
A fool is asking!?
**
STRANGE
-1-
Strange the places strange
And the childhood laughters a moaning
Oh sun of love do not disappear,
Shine, My night is gloomy
-2-
The long roads stole me
And threw me at doors and doors
Birds of distance tell me
Why is sorrow meant for me?
-3-
Yearning for the eyes of the loved ones
For the laughs in sleepless evenings
To say: Oh anguish hide!!
The moon will come back to my country
**
A SOIL IS WALKING
-1-
As a rock you would be oh human
And as leaves the trembling hits you
All the creation created by the ruler
Soil returned soil and soil is walking
-2-
Fear god do not fear people
What good will splendour serve you?
Oh if you only taste the bitterness of the cup
You would laugh at the narrowness of your mind
-3-
Your clothes are clean
Your body is dirty
And your appearance from a distance
Is beautiful oh human being!
But, you are an imposter
And your mind is stained with things
Which evil does not know yet
-4-
Do not kneel and pray to the lord of the universe
And your heart is filled with hatred for people
And your injustice: if you treat unjustly god help
You would slaughter a baby to drink a cup
-5-
Not every prayer raises you up
Even if you pray day and night
What is the use of praying wrongly?
And eyes spark flame and fire.
**
A STRANGE WORLD
-1-
A stranger lost in a strange world
Filled with worry
Its brown face traces gloomy
In a blood colour
Its sky rumbles, its cloud, weird,
Rains poison
And when it extends its horrifying hands
And opens the mouth
Its people increase but the tragedy
They don’t have a mother!
-2-
If a boat carries you to this world
Without a sail
And you saw the earth's dress torn
In a shape of villages
Full of poverty and heavy chest
And hungered people,
By the road, gather a bunch of lily
And kneel on a rock and say:
The flowers are for someone like me,
His age perished,
And for an illusion's pride arrogant
Sold his life
-3-
A world, its sun extinguished in my hands
And its moon vanished
I harvested grievance for it a harvest
And I knitted it as clothes
I squeezed despair with my stubborn tears
And I poured it like a drink
I washed agony in my joyful seas
And I opened doors
I whisked their dust to became new
Without fatigue
**
CONVOYS MEN
-1-
Convoys men departed, hurried walking
They left the cedar's home in agony
They planted the seasons, seasons of plenty
And set up their tents in another country
The dew got upset
The bird's voice became husky
And the poplar branches leaned withered
-2-
And who migrated
Hard for him to return
Escaping from deportation
Of the power of the Canon
From a politic of puzzles
From a wider tyranny
From a huge sea's mouth,
Children it is swallowing
-3-
Kids thrown like flowers
On the edge of ditches, tyranny dug
And their eyes lit at night
On a shining dawn
On the remains of a dream
They died out and became a thousand story
About a land longing for the taste of peace
-2-
And who lives treason
No shame for him to leave
And steps in the middle of the sea
Enduring desertion
Who tasted abandonment
It is tough for him to hope for rightness
And dream in a mattress of flowers
On a velvet rug
-4-
But if we remember the days
Before the war broke
How we raced with dreams
How arrogant we were
Towards the kings of the universe
We would say: our joy is when we sleep
Under the shade of our green cedar
-5-
And we fold yesterday's book
And we build our happiness
A wedding is not a wedding
Without our drunkenness
We who gave the sun
From our joy's light
We refuse despair
To play with our lives
**
MY VOICE IS HUSKY
-1-
My voice is husky and my larynx
Dried out of your dust blow
And the song which you were
Was slaughtered thrown on your rocks
Return the song, oh my country
And the laughter to your children's lips
Return my power, my glories
To light the star facing you
My voice is husky and dreaming
Come back and sing, oh my country
Tune out the “oud” and sing for you:
Oh “ghzayil” with dignity
You are in love but suffering
Let us come back to our land
And bring back the youth Era
-2-
Oh “ghzayil” say to him and repeat:
The cedar flag we respect
Remaining for us all Lebanon
From the coast to the hills
-3-
Oh “ghzayil” in our desertion
We did not forget our village
Spread the news of our return
Prior to the sunset
-4-
Oh “ghzayil” whatever strikes it
We are, yes we are its beloved
Mixture from its soil
That land full of goodness
-5-
My voice is husky and for you
I'll knit from “OFI” your scarf
And rejoice when my flute cries
Bring down its tears facing you
What do I say, do I say?
I'm trying from your mountain's rock
And from the strength of your men's faith
Steal, oh my country, your song:
They said: money to you
I said: I do not want it
I want the glory as a mole on my cheek
I am from a country its cedars are jewels
And its soil of gold shining in my hand
-6-
My voice is husky, and my hope
Erase with the tunes the darkness
And hum bit of “qarradi”
Growing living in my mind
Want to sing for you my country
Scared of myself for myself:
My country answer my country
Strikes are many
The spring is running beside you
And my heart on fire
-7-
No matter what happens don't say
They forgot the days
They forgot the childhood period
In desertion of dreams
The soul in your love blended
Hard for us to sleep and see you killed
With the hands of disgrace
-8-
My voice is husky and my faith
In you my country allowed me
Raise the voice and sing for you
I'll plant your name on my lips
And carry your cross on my shoulders
And blow out with tears your rage
Maybe my tender country
In my sound and my eyes tears
Repay you bit of your gratitude.
“Ghzayil, Ofi, Qarradi, Oud, Lebanese names represent our songs, poetry and music”
**
TWO HANDFULS OF MONEY
-1-
Do not die in your desertion do not die
And leave your soil curse you in the tomb
Go and spend your life in Beirut
And shake off your wings from the agony dust
-2-
You remain a stranger in your desertion oh sober
Even if your house is filled with maids
Come on let us together cling to a handful of winds
And return to the land of pride
-3-
Let us together expel the house foreigner
Who ignited in the home hatred and fire
Who allowed the sky to blacken with its poisons
Who allowed with his lies a neighbour
Slaughter a neighbour
-4-
We who were living in prosperity
Dancing and walking like a peacock
We betrayed our country and the cedar dignity
And we sold pride with two handfuls of money
-5-
We are running and gathering mirage in our desertion
Destroying the age and wasting it with delusion
And our kids whom we are forgetting behind doors
They are growing and in their hearts a waterfall of poison
**
KADMOUS
-1-
And you remain Kadmous
Lord of lords:
Ink, pen, lessons
And two brand new exercise books
-2-
Oh tutor of generations
In your book we read
How these children
We make their forehead bigger
-3-
Today we became many
And you were only one
Writing at the fire light
And shining like a sun
-4-
Your vessel till today
Still in our eyes
Do not be afraid
Sleeping cannot get us
-5-
In your feast oh god of letter
My faith increase
To describe it of description
My tongue will tire
-6-
Students like flowers
Are dancing at your feast
They got drunk and drunkenness
From the smell of your wine
-7-
What do I tell them about you?
Oh moon without absence
I will explain to them
That you have been dead for ages
And yet you have not become soil.
**
MADNESS
-1-
My madness is stronger than their madness
My madness is stronger than their madness
When they become crazy I would be crazier
And when they quieten down as usual
I would see the tears in their eyes
-2-
A cursed coincidence brought us
To a world which did not approve of my arts
My poems, it said: to fire
My thoughts what thoughts!
And to leave a memory
I got mad and tore my clothes
I was sliding on my knees
They were all happy and congratulated me
On my crazy championships
-3-
I socialized with them
Though with the company,
The personality changes quickly
And it does not do me any good
No matter how I screamed how I turned
No matter how I became drowsy
I will remain inside their country
And my kids looking similar to their kids
-4-
That past which still hanging
On the gallows of the blue dream
Hatched before me flowers
And I am still waiting to hatch
Like someone making his tomb a bed,
I slept not feeling the day
**
BLACK FLOWERS
-1-
..You are congratulating me
On dreams lost before they were born
Escaped from my imagination and my madness
Planted a crazy delusion in my eyes
Black flowers have grown?
-2-
Tears rolling after tears
And I was unable to sleep
My mother singing for me:
“Sleep pigeon bird”
And crying facing me
I see in her eyes candles flames
-3-
I gathered fire and light from my age
And distributed flowers bouquets to people
People betrayed me and dried my flowers
Which I thought they would never dry
Though who lived treason
Slaughters with his nail the flowers
-4-
Oh you hearing the voice do not be afraid
My voice is an echo of stories
On my lips
I put songs to sleep
And sang them while asleep
And the dream carrying me on its shoulders
And when I woke up
I sensed my dream has died
On its own and no one ever saw it!
**
A POET FAREWELL
-1-
A farewell party?!
Why we have to say goodbye
And recite poems
And speeches at your hearing
If we read a poem you wrote
About your parents,
Your land which you loved
No matter how far you are
We will fly to be with you?!
-2
You are a poet,
Smartness from your quarry,
And all the rhymes drink from your fountain,
If you sing, the whole world dance
And in front of your poems it bows
Like a shadow it walks and follows you
-3-
When destiny exploded your tearful
And with its hard hits it caused you pain
Your loved ones gathered around you
And hid you in their hearts
Because they loved you so much
They stood by you against the one
Wishing you to kneel
-4-
We love you
And this is why we see you
In our eyes dreams planting you
You are loyalty, honesty, love
And you have nobility proud in the heart
On all human kind raising you
-5
Shy I am to make you hear this poem
And all the poems kneeling at your alter
But before you return back to the home land the land which riots played with it
I love to say to you: God be with you
**
YOU ARE COMING
-1-
Coming.. you are coming
Oh, vessel of beginning
From children's dreams
Born in a story's heart
Which does not know an ending
So they can live in a country
Its swings are high
Its stars are vines
And its years are feasts
-2-
You are coming like a giant
The universe facing you kneeling
And the songs in your ears
The star which does not wake up
Filled an urn from its tears
To wash your feet
Oh, you who were the entire world
You are coming with god's strength
Love bliss in your eyes
-3-
You are coming from fires
A light, a perfume and lilies
Your forehead like a snow
And the childhood laughter
Which is confiscated and killed
Became a prairie space
And the insulted flag
Oh, my Lebanese country
Is raised in the highest tower
-4-
What is the use of sects
And the creator scared of them
If they kneel and worship?!
And what is the use of joy
With prayer and devotion
And your people are homeless?!
Promise me by the right of your children
By your cross,
By your crescent,
You may remain free united
So our nights will shrill
And you become within us
The glorified country
**
LET ME REJOICE
-1-
For the first time in two years
I sense the taste of happiness
The world hit me with an eye,
Hurt me, and after a month it came,
To embrace me and healed its wounds
-2-
Let me rejoice people
And wipe from my cheek the tear
If you taste the bitterness of the cup
Which I drank in the darkness of days
You would summarize the age in a week
-3-
Wishing someone to install me a wing
And fly me in the high
I want to overcome winds
Which blew in my eyes dust
And threw me in the hardest situation
-4-
Wishing someone to sing me a song
And play me music
Escaping from death's hands
And lying under the sun
Sucking the light from its veins
-5-
High and proud
Even I am a human being
Which does not believe in daybreak
I fought hatred with faith
I stole it from the convent's incense
And burnt it, to scent the air
-6-
Congratulate me; congratulate the oppressed Who never in his age tasted mercy
The clouds started again to gather
Promise a season of plenty
And pour on the earth the grace
**
THE PRESENCE OF THE ABSENT
-1-
With the presence of the absent
The evening party rejoiced
And the string got drunk
How beautiful is drunkenness
It made the cedar
Waiting in the high mountain dance
The return of the loved ones
Who prolonged the trip
And Lebanon which does not know hatred
They killed its children
And tarnished the memory
My people I will make them swear
By the cedar's glory by the blood
And by Sannine to be united
Today not tomorrow
-2-
We left families in our country together
Beloved ones became today a story
No eyes can see them and say:
My eyes’ tears wet your pictures
No joy after you is accepted
And no music will affect me
The agony yoke I drag constantly
At dawn break I cry for Lebanon
And at night I cry for my brother
**
A RIDE
-1-
A ride we came and how do we return!?
And when we would laugh
The eyes produce a tear
And why continue the ride
And at the end of the ride we will kneel?
-2-
Nor the house embraces
The people of the house
Nor God is hearing the tyranny cry
Over the innocent
The evil persons have control
And no one from its creator is scared
-3-
They are kidnapping young brunette girls
Who did not reach their weaning
Half of them are suckling
They said: by the name of the powerful lord
It is fine if a baby suffers
-4-
It is permissible if the chastity of the girl Collapsed in front of a bad crook mule!
It is fine for a murderous powerful criminal
To wed the sun
And the honour of the girl will be torn!
-5-
Women been sold by a dealer
To men whom their price is manure
Which you do not pay for
To men who painted their faces with charcoal
The world vanishes
And the charcoal does not shine
-6-
They said: it is right to kill the infidels
And people's blood becomes a swamp
They killed each other
And the neighbour liquidated the neighbour
And in god's paradise he is lusting
-7-
They destroyed the planet
Killing became a belt
Wrapping a complicated broken universe
A ride its beginning burning and fire
And at its end the cannon is screaming
**
YOU ARE THE WOMAN
-1-
You are the woman how big you are
A miniature god's picture
You are creating by his order the humanity
A radiant childhood laughter
Without you a stone was not built
Where is the creation by the way?
You give dates like trees
And blooming like roses
-2-
They said a woman is the world
The motherhood she is to take care
On her hand childishness sleeps
And old age kisses her hands
-3-
Like a prayer we consecrate her
Dress her up the purity crown
She does not know cruelty's craziness
And she does not concede to cheating
-4-
We measured the planet on her measure
We measured loyalty by her measure
The eyes lashes her outfit
And her lips laughter is the ruler
-5-
You are the woman who is named
The universe sun in the highest sky
In your arm stars we draw
And there was not a day you were arrogant
-6-
You are the woman
And how pretty is your face as a mother
And as a sister I spoil your presence
You are the girl which full of capacity
-7-
You are the woman meaning the treasure
For upbringing you became a symbol
Without turning and winking
Like you they did not find a jewel
-8-
You are the woman meaning the poetry
Meaning the yarn, meaning the flowers
We wash your feet with a perfume
We dry it and we powder it
-9-
How and how we wait for you
Even in our hands we wrap you
In love only we incense you
So your name becomes a pride
-10-
I make you swear: wake people up
Extinguish the war, erase the danger
There is not a child who did not migrate
We became scattered nations
-11-
You are the woman whom I love
And dream to live near her
And walk the age on her path
Without lying and yapping
-12-
You are the woman
Who oppresses you is a stupid ignorant
Does not understand you
The more he hardens how merciful you are
You throw your forgiveness on him
-13-
You are the woman
For you they kneel
The smallest baby, the biggest king
Oh my mother how pretty you are
Even in the tomb's soil
**
HOW DID MY AGE FOLD?
-1-
The days are rushing
My calendar tired out
With its illusions
Which played with my migration
I wish if I can sleep
And slumber forgets me
In a land thirsting for my eyes tears
To make it love me
And sing for it songs
Which dreams never heard of
-2-
My length, what is the use of my length
If my width a bird's feather?
My body is a flying air
And walking bored of me
Stop all the watches
I am scared of being grey
And my hairs turn messy
Which are used to be tidy
How did my age fold?
I could not reach the moon
The moon will disappear
Wait my moon
To say goodbye with poetry
-3-
My eyes, woe's urns
And I put my eyeliner
I am afraid of the night's neigh
To claim my madness
When I open my hands
They collect people's dust mocking me
In their hearts Judas's hatred
In the sea they threw me
And the wave a horse back
I rode on my assumptions
And I am without energy
-4-
They changed my name,
The shape and the address
My age is a breeze
From its scream I am terrified
If my paths are finished
My walks die!
If my sins are erased
My talks live!
My roads, a human being's fatigue
My sins are devil's joy
Which does not like my life
-5-
Every time the sun rises
My light extinguishes
Oh my age do not hurry
My flowers did not open
And the bud is still a baby
Without a house, parents
The bees sucked its veins
Till my roots withered
Oh birds of dawn
Visit the baby visit
But do not open your mouth
Or fiddle your worry,
The desertion's craziness
And I am scared for my birds
-6-
The coffin is calling out
To the colourful flowers
Quiet, I said quiet
Since I will die
Why to be born?
Why? Tell me why?
To grow old and age?
And living is the biggest lie
We welcome it with lilies
We farewell it with lilies
**
THE AIRSPACE EAGLE
-1-
Oh airspace eagle rise
Do not be scared from the clouds
And on the light's border land
And with your feathers
Wisk away the dusty days face
-2-
Oh sound of wind
Which is whirling in our ears
We draw a line between tears
And our eyes
And the red groans
-3-
You are from here
Stop oh glory and sing
We transformed the universe into a paradise
And the paradise guard
God's green cedars
**
THE ORPHANED
An orphaned aged no more than seven years old, they forced her to sell sweets day and night and after fatigue and insomnia exhausted her she plunged in a deep sleep on her sweet platter in the street.
-1-
Oh my sweetheart magic in your eyes
And the sweet platter is not pretty without you
Your shoe in the leaders’ moustaches
My little one how does the universe sleep?
And the lord of heaven is quiet
About the criminality
So this way you close your eyes
-2-
Where is your bed?
Where is a mattress coloured
With your eyes colour
Which from our dirt is blackened?
The footpath became your bed
In front of people
They take pictures of you
They write news about you
But their wooden hands
Did not extend
To rescue you from destiny
-3-
Where are you to hug you?
To fulfil you of your mother's compassion
To be your father...
To spoil you
To say to you:
Inside my heart I lay your place
Sleep my soul and fly away your worry
The world monsters are lusting for your blood
**
TIRED
-1-
My eyes tired of emigration craziness
And talk withered early
Maybe time closed in my face the door
Maybe destiny throwing on my shoulders
A yoke
My age years wandered like a drain water
Swallowed by a well
And the well is a small urn
Next to it a pen and a book
-2-
I do not have the energy
To overcome the waiting
I hear the horse's neigh
Coming like a memory
It passes on the night's face
To erase tomorrow
-3-
Tired walking and worries so heavy
And the wind is messing my years
The illusion made me almost a man
Worried my head is and I am fed up
No country calling me and no babies
No elbows embracing me warming me
I am living on my own
A load on my back
From my isolation oh God spare me.
**
THE TRAVEL DUST
-1-
The travel dust is stuck to my clothes
It multiplies on its own
It tore my pockets
Its colour the colour of darkness
From it many became crazy
How does a day face me
And all the age lying dreams
-2-
A dust that does not have mercy
On the cry of the yearning
To the stones of a small house
They became old
There in a village on the wind elbow
Between it and between the sun
It drew a line
And on the line it set up swings
To swing poems and longings
-3-
Still the same as I left ages ago
Love and hospitality
Sacrifice and faith
And neighbours from their laughters
Rise a moon
The word welcome greeted all mankind
And despite the hatred,
The war,
The danger craziness
Neighbours remained
So Lebanon remained
-4-
How do I accomplish my return?
And the hope bird drowning in my tears
The hands are waving with a scarf
Long time ago repeating ballads:
The homeland hunger like worries heavy
And Lebanon is not feeling my hunger
**
WE MISSED YOU
-1-
The waves of the sea fold us
And destroy all our crossroads
They throw us a tear on the port
The craziness waiting is burning us
Oh my country which loves us
Do not allow migration to suffocate us
You are within us stay within us
By the life of the cedars
We missed you
-2-
We missed who departed
And left us
Who were the dabke and the folkloric songs
And the sun laughter which is blooming
“Over your branch oh orange tree”
From my madness verses I build
So migration decreases its insanity
My age mirror it is breaking
In it faces who loved us
-3-
We missed oh god we missed you
Oh village extend your hands
And do not forget us
Hide us in the blue of your eyes
We grew up in you
Do not estrange yourself from us
When we were away
We would come back to you
Migration no matter how old its years
We would not forget the dust of your feet
-4-
The beautiful memories pass by
And I do not think I am living them
As a mercury when it pours its laughter
Who would catch it?
I know my days I am burning
And my eyes agony is blinding them
And I do not know if my sun will rise
My presence in migration is deceiving it
**
A LIFE OF JOY
-1-
We lived together
Neighbour next to neighbour
A life of joy
I wish if one day I would come back
And see the water spring, the church,
And find out what happened
With the childhood house
I long to fill in my bag olive
Its grains bunches huge bunches
Oh Mejdlaya, measure my love
Despite my happiness
Despite richness in desertion
Tears in my eyes
And the heart on fire
-2-
I wish to return and see my beloved ones whom their faces erased my absence
In the darkness of my exercise books
I scribbled a bunch of names
Returned my youth
Years and years
I keep searching for the photos
If a picture was lost
My pain grows
Far away they are from me
And how I lived
And my soil started calling my soil
Yes I aged
My hair turned grey
A bit deaf I became
Oh Mejdlaya decrease my misery
-3-
I do not want to live in abandonment
I am disgusted of desertion word
Disgusted your son I am
And longing to see you
I am living on my own in my abandonment
Bored I am
I miss to play on your palms
And say to you:
I love you
And the heart is joyful
I miss coming back
Kiss your name letters
And stand at your church door with regret
Help me return your favour
And plant my soil
In Lebanon’s mountain
**
MY TEARS
-1-
If my tears were talk
I would not have tasted crying
But my tears a mirage
They roll disturbed
And on the cheek there is a door keeper
Who loses the battle,
Who opens the door for it,
It declares the law of the jungle
And the kingdom falls
-2-
If my tears were a stone
I would not have hit people with it
The stone would become a building
A wide sight
So a small baby sleeps
Carrying on its shoulders sleeplessness
And to cross out the misery of a mother heart
Which was broken
I will build a big wall
Standing in the face of destiny
-3-
If my tears were wood
I would have inflamed literature
And made from it a sword
From it shines a flame
And erased the word: wrong
Wrong who wrote:
We protected the guest
We guarded the descent
We united winter and summer
But we could not unite the Arabs
**
JUDAS
-1-
They want me to wait for my death
And my death will not be realised
No matter how they suffocated
My mind and my voice
My letter from my pain will be born
It becomes the crazy tear
Which my eyes could not imprison
I said to it: in my seas be
And do not be
My shadow on the intersection
-2-
They want me to terminate myself
And declare my bankruptcy to people
Tear my books..
Distribute my money..
Drown my dreams in my cup
And the people who walked beside me
In days of hardship
They said to me:
Stand in their faces..
It is impossible Judas will win
**
Brotherhood
-1-
The brother they said is a wing
In his lap the sister rests
And they forgot to say that the brother becomes a mother and a father
In his hand hope is the key
-2-
Do not be scared, God is great
And your lap, a warm palace
You put her to sleep in a bed
Wider than.a distance
_3_
Brotherhood, this is how it should be
In an Era of tyranny and suppression
Ruled by Nero
Which will end in the tomb
-4-
And you will live
Bigger than a tip
Which in a crocodile pocket
Tomorrow feathers will grow
On your wings and you will fly
With your sister and the
World becomes joys
-5-
I wish if I was beside you
To wipe the tears
Off her checks and your checks
And to turn back hours
And change the ruling of outlaws
Stealing my money
And tarnished Lebanon's name
Which is dear to our hearts.
**
