Le Beirut;

That could have been me. 

Among the nurses working in the dark with nothing but flashlight to guide them.

Among the men and women grasping at the hands of those crushed around them.

Among the frightened and helpless and the brave and strong.

Yet here I am like so many others,

Children of the diaspora. 

Glued to screens, trapped across oceans and seas

But feeling every shard in our hearts. 

Immersing ourselves in guilt and shame for having ever left our homes. 

Homes that we grew to respect, to love, to cherish after years of tumultuous growth.

The city of lost youth, of bursting blooms, of endless nights under the stars

Art exploding on the walls of every zawarib, 

Stairs of turquoise, magenta, periwinkle blue 

Beirut ya Beirut 

My heart imploded with you 

My soul left behind in the soil of your earth now scattered across the land

My heart imploded with you

We shook and trembled with you, 

In Mourning we stand 

Watching from behind a glass wall as if trapped in a haze.

I await the day Beirut where you will rise again, 

The Phoenix in all its glory

Magnanimous.

Majestic. 

Magnificent once more.

Free.

I Don’t Know;

Sometimes I think of you.
Sometimes I forget you existed.
Sometimes the books are enough & sometimes they’re not.
Sometimes I sit & sing along to all the songs that make my heart ache/
Sometimes I dance.

And life is hard sometimes. Things happen that you can’t plan for, things happen to the ones you love and some things make you see it all through his eyes.
People grow apart/ people make mistakes/ the flower blooms & then there’s the moon.
And you grow and you grow and you grow but somehow you’re still the smallest person in the room.

But he’s sick and there’s nothing I can do about it.
But he’s leaving me and there’s nothing I will do to stop it.
And he’s crippled by life without her but she’s the goldest hour.

There she is. glorious/ petrified/ stupefied/ magnanimous. but there she is.

I can’t breathe; I can’t breathe; I can’t breathe. And guess again, I can’t breathe.

(You’ve been here before)

It’s not that serious anyway.