Bashar is Free

Bashar is free
Or is he!

The country is detained
Stripped naked of its rights
All are hostages
Crumbled in fear

Fear for the future
Fear for our kids
Or even our older kin
Fear for our destiny

Under the ultraviolet lights
The bats are swaying
In the pitch of the darkened nights
Set and ready for the green light

The Grim Reaper is waiting
Scythe in hand
While the country is celebrating
Bashar is free

Who’s next
To pay the debts!
When will it be my turn!
When will it be yours!

It’s all just a matter of time
And time has mercy on no one

Will this nightmare ever
Be over
I wonder

Free Kuwait

A nightmarish reality
A doom of daylight
Violating
Human rights

Bashar is missing
His hands are cuffed
His mouth is sealed with red wax
He is alone, yet not alone
Dogs are loose
Predators in control
The country is seduced
Abused
Introduced
On a silver platter
To the hungry wolves
Long awaited the attack
On a country, already
Suffocating
And exhaling vigorously
The last breath in curfew

Can anyone hear
The moans of freedom
The cries of Justice
In solitary confinement?

Free Bashar
Free Kuwait

An Update: a dedication to our intelligent government

Wish I may
Wish I might
Have this I wish tonight
Are you satisfied?
Dig for gold
Dig for fame
You dig to make your name
Are you pacified?

All the wants you waste
All the things you’ve chased

Then it all crashes down
And you break your crown
And you point your finger
But there’s no one around

Just want one thing
Just to play the king
But the castle’s crumbled
And you’re left with just a name

Where’s your crown, King Nothing?
Where’s your crown?

Hot and cold
Bought and Sold
A heart as hard as gold
Yeah! Are you satisfied?

Wish I might
Wish I may
You wish your life away
Are you pacified?

All the wants you waste
All the things you chased

Then it all crashes down
And you break your crown
And you point your finger
But there’s no one around

Just want one thing
Just to play the king
But the castle’s crumbled
And you’re left with just a name

Where’s your crown, King Nothing?
Where’s your crown?

Huh!

(Spoken)
I wish I may
I wish I might
Have this wish I wish tonight
I want that star
I want it now
I want it all and I don’t care how

Careful what you wish
Careful what you say
Careful what you wish
You may regret it
Careful what you wish
You just might get it

Then it all crashes down
And you break your crown
And you point your finger
But there’s no one around

Just want one thing
Just to play the king
But the castle’s crumbled
And you’re left with just a name

Where’s your crown, King Nothing?
Nothing

No you’re just nothing
Where’s your crown, King Nothing?
No you’re just nothing
Nothing

Off to never never land

A Trip to L.A. Via Highway 101 South

Pismo Beach

dsc02520.jpg

dsc02536.jpg

dsc02518.jpgdsc02515.jpg

Solvang (Danish town amidst CA)

dsc02548.jpg

dsc02561.jpgdsc02562.jpg

Old Pasadena

dsc02590.jpg

L.A.

dsc02607.jpgdsc02609.jpg

Venice Beach

dsc02658.jpgdsc02644.jpgdsc02662.jpg

Beverly Hills

dsc02669.jpgdsc02637.jpg

dsc02613.jpg

A Trip to San Francisco

City Life
Daunting
Zigzagging as
Eternal serpents

Cars aback
Cars affront
Flash
Beyond vision

Bumpy roads
Cable cars
History
Modernity

Streets somersaulting
Diving into bellies
And mounting onto
Women’s hips

People
Plenteous as bees
Apathetic
Or ardent

Bands on fishermen’s Worf
Guitars
Saxophones
Resonating

Children
Bungee jumping
Rosy cheeks
Aloud

Golden skins
Bald to the vehement
Ocean wind
Of August

Onyx seals
Lazy or playful
Against the horizon
Surreal

Golden Gate
A splendorous peacock
Copper to sunrise
Gold to sunset

Bay Bridge
Cutting into an island
Silver defying nature
With its tedious stretch

Back on highway 101
Radio playing
“Do you know
The Way to San Jose”

Back to “Home Sweet Home”
The peaceful alleys
Silicon valley
Mountain View

Back to the place
I’d rather be
Relaxed
Serene

dsc02481.jpg

dsc02466.jpg

dsc02470.jpg

dsc02475.jpg

dsc02490.jpg

Someday is a Better Day

Today
The mirror lamented the withered face
And the torpid hair that was once
Shimmering with lust

Today
The glistening eyes I was so notorious for
Dimmed into piercing
Plastic beads

Today
I kept wondering
How long has it been since
I have seen you, seen me

Then it suddenly shuddered me
Behind the limits and into space
You were always there
Wearing that navy blue cap

Beneath which promises made and never kept
Trust seemed a felony
A destiny into the unknown
The unbigoted

Empty neutral state
Where everything seemed
Just there for
No reason

It was not nirvana
The Buddhist were wrong
Nothing less
Order less

Then I knew
Someday things will change
Someday there will be another you
Or, may be another us

Someday
I will make a truce
With the mirror
Or may be
With you

The Ultimate Truth

Days convoluting into years
As stars into the milky way
As I kept wandering
And twisting back into the beginning

Into nothingness
That contained everything
I lost forever
My sense of identity

Cosmos and chaos
Mythos and heresy
How more ironic
Could life be!

A thread I took
Led me into the abyss
A net of truths
Woven into deceiving oaths

Everyone possesses
Substantiating truths
While the ultimate is too holistic
To verify, particularities

If you are there
Show me your face
For life has grown into a charlatan
Time has stretched into infinity

And still
You don’t care!

Sameera and the Forbidden Fruit (VIII)

A continuation
A week after Aberto and Sameera got back from their vacation in Spain, and before Sameera had any chance to open the subject about Alberto with her family, Alberto received a letter from his company informing him, apologetically, that his assigned position as a project manager in Kuwait had been terminated and that he had to return to Italy as soon as possible. Apparently the company that Alberto worked for, and through which he was stationed in Kuwait as part of a contract with one of the ministries, was facing some fanatical disputes that reached the courts of law. And although Alberto had two more years to hand in the project he was managing, his visa expired in three months.
And as a consequence, the couple found themselves in a physically and psychologically tiring situation; Alberto had two choices, each was harder to pursue than the other. One option was to go back to Italy, and risk his relationship with Sameera who wasn’t ready to leave her job, at least not before she paid off the remainder of the mortgage for her property in Dubai. Another option was to resign from his company and go job-hunting for another in Kuwait. And although the second option seemed more promising to the couple, it was not so easy in the realm of reality.
Alberto had only two months to seek another job. And the probability of getting a job suitable for his qualifications and at least as rewarding as his previous one, was very slim. After tedious times spent in writing applications and going through endless interviews, of which all the interviewers promised to call, he received nothing. He only heard through Sameera’s connections that some had rejected him because he was over qualified for thier vacant positions. And as the second month trailed ahead, Alberto started loosing hope, he knew he had to sell his car and furniture, and return the flat to the owners within one month and head to Italy jobless without Sameera. Not to mention that he was spending his savings with no return. But his fear of loosing Sameera created a jerk out of him as the third month stared to close. He simply could not imagine his life without her, and that practically ruined him psychologically, he had no idea what to do, but to find solitude in alcohol. Sameera, on the other hand, enslaved herself in finding the connections to aid Alberto in his mission. Her job was not easy, and sometimes humiliating, especially when she was promised help from someone who bragged more than took action.
When the situation got worse, he sold his car and rented a cheap one and started to sell his furniture through ads in Sultan Center’s boards. Sameera who had lost a lot of weight from lack of sleep, had another duty to keep her strength, at least in front of him, so that he wouldn’t collapse.
And although this incident was hard for both of them to fathom, and fights between them increased, especially with Alberto’s drinking that was becoming a daily routine, the couple was never closer to each other as they were at those hard times. Some days they spent in complete denial and partied, while other days they cried themselves to sleep.
They say that things get worse before they get better. And a few days before his departure, and as the flat was slowly being emptied, Alberto finally got the call he was long waiting for, and a new sun stared to rise over a stronger bond. Their love had passed its first test and was triumphant. They realized that the most important thing was to want a relationship bad enough to fight for it, in one boat.
Instead of the old furniture, new more suitable and elegant furniture replaced the old. These were the pieces they handpicked together to decorate their new lively nest. And the old bed that was Alberto’s alone was now replaced with a new one more suitable for the deserving bride, ushering them into a new life, as Alberto kept reminding Sameera.
This dilemma also assured them that nothing could stop in the way of their happiness; and now that he had secured his future, it was time for Alberto to officially propose. The couple had no other choice but to make their dreams come true, regardless of any obstacle that might come their way.

To be continued