Luxor, oh Kharmack
Temples to Amon, Amon Ra
Pharaohs in sacred reverence
For both gods lifted
Along the majestic Nile
Through Upper Egypt
What an elite ... to stand quiet
There, on the Kings valley
At Tuntakamon progeny´s way
The Palace of Hatshepsut
In the Valley of the Queens
Majestic Horus and by Felucca
The Mausoleum of Agha Khan
Obelisk, still unfinished
And the pristine temple Philae
From Edfu to Aswan ...
The High Dam to retain
The nonalignment of Lake Nasser waters
The graffiti art, portraying the long story
Of the lives of all the Pharaohs
And the temples of Sobek, Horus and Khnum
In Kom Ombo
Fascinate the eyes of anyone
Categories:
nasser, africa,
Form: Blank verse
He sits down,
In the farthest forlorn corner
Of the mud walled cracked windowless room,
The teacher calls it classroom,
the dictionary says otherwise.
He knows many a people,
Prominent and low,
Nelson Mandela,
Koffi Annan,
Gamel Nasser,
All of them,
Aren't they kids in the hood?
In fact Koffi is Nasser's twin.
He knows not the blue waters,
But the dusty drops,
That merely quench the thirst,
In fact,
The drops so dusty,
Aren't a remedy at all,
They leave the throat scratched.
He has a sister Aisha,
19 year-old wrinkled face,
She is a mother of three,
Traded off
To a nomad with sheep.
She was booked when three,
And sold off at thirteen,
She is such a punch bag to the man,
Thin but bone-hard.
The man so ruthless,
Even to the eye.
He passes his fingers,
Through his dust washed hair,
Coiled as the only form of comfort,
In the distance are gunshots,
He can only fathom the receipient,
The scattered flesh,
Just like his aunt, uncle,
And his other cousin,
Tears cloud his eyes,
The same tears that cloud The Sun of Africa.
Categories:
nasser, africa
Form: ABC
Matthew chapter 7
1 Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you
judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will
be measured to you.
During my entire life
I stayed glued to my TV
Deep in a low alpha state
Hypnotized into becoming "me"
I jumped when they told me to
They taught me how to be tough
And my eyes would sometimes water
If the acting was good enough
Yet after this virtual lifetime
Not one instance is coming to me
Of Arabs portrayed as human beings
On my blessed and holy TV
Always, always, always
It told me how to think
And if I even heard the word "Arab"
I judged exactly as I had seen
So this brings me to my point
TV is not the creator of truth
And I judged an entire people
Simply because I was told to
I hope they will understand
And even turn the other cheek
Because I based all of my judgments
On an electronic TV screen
[For my friend and coworker, Nasser. A first generation American
of Palestinian descent. Truly a generous, loving and passionate soul, who
who showed me what I've been told about middle eastern people is
truly ridiculous.]
Categories:
nasser, introspection, people, recovery from...,
Form: I do not know?