Opinion Editorials, May 2009

To Rachel Corey

 a Poem

By Ali Al-Hail

May 10, 2009

 
Rachel, my sweetheart: I dreamt of you just the other night
As usual, you were at your best- at your height
You flashed before my eyes as a traveling light
March has come and gone

Six Marches have come and gone, in fact
Only you who last through our memories for years and years to come
You asked me: "when did I see you last?"
Your query drove me backwards six years past

You must've comeback to this World to check Gaza's plight
I felt: I was, in your presence - flying so high in a magic flight
For the first time, I was not afraid of height 
I must've needed you so badly, so tight

That very particular night
I really needed to learn more from your peaceful fight
We were all your horses and you were the heroic knight
When you stood up as a sword to the rats

To the bulldozer's rats:
"you have to kill me, if you have to demolish this site"
You delivered on your vow, and turned into everybody's sweetheart
Enemies of beauty massacred you in the month of beauty, in the month of March

Since then, your noble blood, everywhere in Gaza turned out to be a rosy plant 
Thanks to God, brought you to me with his greater might
Even if it was for a short dreaming eyesight
As you taught everyone of us in Gaza: "tell your heart"

Please, my sweetheart, let me tell my heart:
You were so beautiful as a child's smile, so wonderful
As you were at every night
You were surrounded like a bride by Gaza's toddlers, your beloved ones, your fans
 by their smiles and their dancing laughs

They were like hailstones, allover you that startling night
Giggling around you like a smell of heather in an evening in March
You were so real, just so real, as you were in March
That I thought for a while, it was not right

It's just the right time, just the right time
You arrived as a candle in a dark night
You sparkled as a torch in a tunnel full of so many rats
Where ever we go, these days, we only see rats rats..rats
 and despite the odds, you were so hopeful

You were as you were a night star from far North: so, so bright
You elegantly took my hand, ah, ah how I felt:
So high, over the clouds, a free bird in the sky

You revived me..you formulated me..you reformed me..you refined me
All of a sudden, I had a big, final sigh
Rachel, my sweetheart: I dreamt of you just the other night
 
 ***
 
Professor, Dr. Ali Al-Hail, Professor of Mass Communication, Twice Fulbright

Award Winner, Fulbright Visiting Scholar, Vice-President Of Qatar Fulbright Group, CSR Award Judge and Board Member of AUSACE, ASC, IABD, NEBAA, BEA, IMDA and EAJMC American Associations.
Can be contacted via: a.alhail@yahoo.com