18 May 2011

Incantation



Beyond the sea I watch her roam
The distant place where is her home
Upon the surf itself she walks
And like a nightingale she talks
She is gentle clean and pure
She is one with the azure
Coming towards me with the Tide
Across the waters I watch her glide

For her, I know, I’d lay down my life
If that, someday, would make her my wife
For all my sickness, she is the cure
If only she could come ashore;
Too close to her and I would drown
Before ever I could touch her radiant crown
I cry because I understand
She’s the Sea and I the Land

Honey trap?



I wondered when it would happen. I suspected it would be sooner rather than later. I received an email from my beloved’s account.

“Great news! I decided to surprise you and I’m in Damascus now! Come to my room in the Cham Palace! I cannot wait to see you and hold you!”

There was even a room number …

Odd … I thought. Is it possible?

Could it be?

I considered going … because what if it were true? It didn’t seem likely or logical but … well, I have found myself hopelessly longing for my lover’s touch … and, to be honest, the idea that all I needed to do was go into a hotel and all my sexual tensions and fears would melt away is tempting …

So, I wrote back. “What about your work? What about …. ?”
I asked a very personal question … no one else would know …

Came the reply swiftly. Completely wrong.

I shut everything down. Scared.

I don’t know who was on the other end … but I was scared. I’ve gotten a few other emails inviting me places … most are simpler.

We have switched our location yet again.

Today the Revolution continues


I am not going to run a newswire but I can share some possibly encouraging news. Right now, as we enter teh third month of the Uprising, there are demonstrations underway in Homs; yesterday saw Aleppo coming alive ....

There are calls for a national strike and more and more businesses have closed their doors; if nothing else, we will shut down this country and make it ungovernable for them, make it so that the gang around the regime will no longer be able to prosper.

Al Watan - Makhlouf's mouthpiece - has an interview with Bashar today. In it, he admits that security forces made "mistakes" against the Uprising. But rather than say where the rot comes from, he blames the police for killing us, saying that they were poorly trained. Those who di the training, those who gave the orders are, as always, guilt-free.

Is it poor training that commands the open fire of machine guns today in Homs? Or orders tanks to shell Tel Kalikh?

Is it poor training or policy? And who makes the policy, ya Bashar, if not you?