22.7.06

I called Beirut yesterday...


I wanted to ask her how she is doing, how many scars she could bear, how many of her children died, how many left her to her fate... to ask her how she is taking all this. what can we do to... she cut me off right away and asked me to just tell all the Lebanese who would read this:
"ma 2alkon gheir ba3ed ya 7abibeh. Iza metet, khaloneh moot mettameh... khaloneh moot w 2albeh mertei7 enkon 2aleb wa7ad, enkone eed we7deh... enkone ra7 terja3o sawa, t7atooleh wardeh 3ala 2abreh, w t3amro men jeed"
(you have no one but each other, my love. If I die, let me rest in peace knowing that you are all one heart, one soul... that you will all come back together, put a rose by my grave, and start building your country together, once more...)
I heard another missile shredding through her flesh. I felt her wince from the pain. She told me she has to go, and hung up...

12 comments:

Unknown said...

leish ya habibi heik 3am ta3mel?
oul alla, fout neim shway
rou'.. it'll be fine i promise..
ma fi watan bi mout.. ma heik?

Mar said...

She's still alive, she's just down in a shelter. She'll be back up, dust off herself and call YOU this time!

Ma fi Watan Bmout la'!

Ghassan said...

Countries are mothers when they feel heartache they tell their children to stay together and to keep an eye on each other. these last days of horror, all I hear are opposing views from Lebanese on a war that is destroying their own country (let alone the barrage of political analysis that people have the heart to write). we are organizing peace rallies, and you find yourself urging people to at least pretend that they are united... (haha) it reminded me of shee fesheil (Ziad Rahbani) 'wleik ya khayeh ma masra7eyeh hay shoo 3an jad heyeh! maslooleh yeha ya 3ameh."
but seriously this is what my mother usually says to me and my brother "ma 2elkon gheir ba3ed..." and this is what I only wish the Lebanese would understand one day... we are from the same mother, and we have no one but each other... not Syria, not Iran, not France, not the US... and by god not Israel (trust me, I've seen the day where I had to convince someone that an all out war against his own country is by no means 'constructive'!!!)

Ghassan said...

in other words what I wanted to say:
"KELKONE EKHWEH YA WLED EL KALB!"

rouba said...

gus, start writing to the newspapers. no time for crying, we HAVE to do this
NY times, Wash Post, Chicago Tribune; they're bound to publish one of us.
smthg curt but outlining the war crimes and the massacres, with some melancholy (you're good at this) :
and if u hear or read abt war crimes, document everything for now (make a folder), if we don't use them now we'll use them later.

we're all dying with lebanon, but we'll fight to our last breath.
fuck them all to hell and back!

rouba said...

pls that would be wonderful!

rouba said...

gus add this link to donate to AUH.
they need it
< https://give.aub.edu/>
u can cut and paste from my post for more info
shed 7alak ya sabi

Ostfen said...

Ghassan, do u know the answer to the trivia question of the day?
"What does a phosphorous bomb do to the face of a child"
If not, visit my blog to find out. You may win a round trip to beirut to witness all the action first hand.

FZ said...

sometimes i think it is when we cannot mourn that our humanity erodes, that we become blind, angry, paranoid zombies... mourning frees us to understand each other, to empathize... I have a hard time understanding how this destruction is being perpetrated, except if the eyes and heart and mind are shut tight against the real mourning of loss

Ghassan said...

How many times did Lebanon die before! then re-emerge. then die... after how many times do we actually become zombies?

Unknown said...

every one of our generations it seems has to have its share of disasters. i had this crazy idea that this might be another pharmaceutical conspiracy.. i'll tell you later..
yes i am losing my mind :)

linalone said...

Very touchy, you have given one more reason to cry...:(