Friday, September 23, 2005

Open your arms...










...and hold me for a few days or maybe a few weeks. It has been over a year now and I miss your rampaged mountains, your rundown homes, your dying trees. I miss the smell of your dirty asphalt and muddy water. I miss you like the heaven I have never seen. So be quiet, my love, my land, and hold me now, but hold me ever so lightly, or else I will never be able to leave.

17 Comments:

Blogger jimmy said...

welcome to your lebanese dream. and thank you for sharing it with us.

welcome to this dream that never exists in reality (and that's the wonder of it). this dream that keeps us all going forward. this dream that is this one nation, one people. this dream of this holy land. our land.

lebanon sure misses you as much as you miss him. the lebanon you're dreaming of is there, in texas, inside of you. it's in you. it IS you. look and you'll see it.

the lebanon you'll rediscover upon your arrival is like the ugly reflection of a beautiful dream in the waters of a muddy pond.

but who cares?
why worry?

why care about the distorted reflection when you have the vision to see the dream itself?

yalla come! quick!

1:31 AM  
Blogger jimmy said...

is it Texas or Tennessee? :)

3:28 AM  
Blogger La La said...

ok I miss it more than I miss you.

:*

3:54 AM  
Blogger Fouad said...

It's Tennessee Jimmy, but it doesn't matter. It's all the same.

janjoon, you only say that because you don't know me :)

9:48 AM  
Blogger La La said...

shut it

xoxo

3:19 PM  
Blogger Lazarus said...

"You have your Lebanon and its dilemma. I have my Lebanon and its beauty. Your Lebanon is an arena for men from the West and men from the East.
My Lebanon is a flock of birds fluttering in the early morning as shepherds lead their sheep into the meadow and rising in the evening as farmers return from their fields and vineyards.
You have your Lebanon and its people. I have my Lebanon and its people..." - Khalil Gibran

:)

4:41 PM  
Blogger callipyge said...

I spend SO MUCH time missing Lebanon and feeling nostalgic about my life there and all that..
But each time I return, I realize that the "home" I miss exists only in my head.
I wonder how much of the expat's longing for Lebanon is in fact longing for the carefree days of their youth. The land stays the same, but the wonder-years can never be had again. Hence the constant disappointment.
At least, that's my case.

12:08 PM  
Blogger Zanzounito said...

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

9:46 PM  
Blogger Zanzounito said...

Your work is beyond praise. I too was torn away from our homeland to the far off state of Texas. I must say, with great regret, that your overtures of Lebanon are inharmonious with my experiences during my summer visit. I saw rampant materialism, pollution, and a careless culture who rely more on superficiality than on anything else. I am a Lebanese and am beginning to be embarassed to say so.

10:06 PM  
Blogger Fouad said...

Callipyge, to me missing Lebanon is almost primal. Whether I like what I see now or not, it is a big part of me and I almost have no choice.

Zanzounito, thank you for your kind words and for stopping by.
I think you're right, but you gotta look at it through Gibran's eyes too (see Lazarus' comment)

Hisham, YOU would like to get to know people?? hahahaha! that's a good one and a first. Bless you for one good laugh.

Last but not least, I cannot for the life of me post anything on my blog, courtesy of my wonderful dial-up connection. But I still would like to say that my heart goes out to May Chidiac and her family. Seeing the images on TV made me sick to my stomach. I only hope that she will come back and stand even taller on one leg than she did on two, and bring even more people together with one hand than she did with two. And may the blood of all those who died not go to waste.

6:29 PM  
Blogger Joumana said...

You didn't tell me you drew :) Your drawings are REALLY nice! Did/do you study this or are you self-taught?
Bon voyage back and see you 'round cyberspace ;)

12:09 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Your blog is enchanting, couldn't stop reading...

I love your drawings too!

~Pamela

11:03 PM  
Blogger Fouad said...

Eh joumana, I love to draw. I don't know why I didn't tell you.
And thanks for the compliment :)
I did take lessons here and there, especially with Hamaoui when I was much younger, plus I spent a year doing fine arts at the LU before I decided to go for medical school. But I believe I'm self-taught to a large extent.

Thank you Pamela, it means a lot. Hope you keep stopping by and readin my stuff..

4:02 AM  
Blogger Mia said...

Sublime!

12:33 AM  
Blogger Fouad said...

Thanks mia :)

5:01 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I hope you update soon...

Pamela

9:11 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Aaaahhhhh... My link was dead for some reason?? Picked this link up from a comment you left on another's blog!

..Hence my above comment :D

Pamela

3:58 AM  

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