You the poor, the weak, the orphan
The simple minded, the infant
The elderly, the immigrant
You, the black sheep and the black swan
Our Lords and our Masters
Let the board sound
Rabih
Our Lords and Our Masters
Category: Poetry
Prière pour un pays au bord de l’oubli
Pour ce pays que l’on délaisse
Que l’on s’empresse d’oublier
Maigre patrimoine qu’on laisse
A nos enfants, nos héritiers
Pour les sentences sans appel
Tombées de rideaux sans rappels
Derniers échos, ultime chant
D’un pays au bord du néant
Pour les lendemains redoutés
Et les hiers que l’on regrette
Pour ceux qui ont dû embarquer
Et pour ceux que l’exil rejette
Pour mon pays, pour ses héros
Pour son histoire, pour ses conflits
Pour sa fierté, pour son drapeau
Pour sa mémoire qu’on oublie
Pour nous tous enfin, ses enfants
Pour garder la flamme allumée
Pour que d’un amour flamboyant
Pour lui nous soyons consumés
Seigneur je te prie
Let the board sound
Rabih
Is It Faith
Moving mountains
Unescapable fate we wrap so willingly
Around our shoulders and desperately call it hope
Or a spiteful surrender, like a horoscope
As it becomes our destiny so seamlessly?
Hoping for the best or bowing blindly to fate
We ravel in despair, or long for green pastures
Fate, auspicious disguise to cowardly postures
Hope, hollow-point bullet served on a silver plate
Illusions however, white sheet hiding the shame
Of Lives sealed by the inevitability
Of doom to which we forfeit prime eternity
Hope? Fate? Immutable destiny be thy name?
Unless we call thy “Faith”, and quite so suddenly
Find ourselves moving mountains instead, fatally
Let the board sound
Rabih
The Slaver and the Fool
And what remains to be undone
The other side, mirror of faithful slavery
Of the fool who blossomed on unfaithful favors
Now paying dearly, hoarding ages in a day
And living merely through the days, not the ages
For a fool is slave not only to his folly
He is bound by the illusions of those above
His will enslaved by the greed of unholy realms
Tied to multitudes of unbreakable ribbons
Colorful threads, pink and purple, tiny and cute
Strings of dread, ropes of bondage, hiding in colors
Binding the fool, tripping the sage, trampling the voice
Of those who speak for what remains to be undone
By the Slaver, by the Fool, sides of the same coin
The left and right hands of a behemoth called Greed
To which all are slaves.
Let the board sound
Rabih
Farewell Dance
And the matching season — Remembering those who left
Farewell dance of rust and wind ushering the blight
Whirling down gold and copper threads, disrobing trees
Precious beads washed ashore in waves of paling light
Autumn leaves swirling in a cold November breeze
Amber leaves and golden seeds in a final quest
Welcome sweet melancholy in eternal rest
Paved in vermilion frost, ephemeral delight
Secret place and ancient maze, laying out of sight
Rest in peace oh immortal souls who came before
Soon enough, Summer will be knocking at the door
Let the board sound
Rabih
A Tribute to Mothers
Taken for granted but dearly missed when coming of age
A mother is a ray of sunlight in the dark
A cloud soothing the heat of the day on your skin
Often taken for granted, her smile hides the mark
Of the sorrows she bares for the joy of her kin
Children coming of age or the passage of time
Taking their toll on but a fragile flower
Frail as she would seem, still a mighty contender
A power of nature a miracle sublime
A mother is a ray of warmth in the damp cold
A presence dearly missed, a memory to hold
For ever…
Let the board sound
Rabih
Vengeance
A tribute to forgiveness
Vengeance is a consuming flame
Ravaging heart and soul alike
Seldom is it a friend to tame
And often a foe to dislike
Forgive, you will be whole again
Forgive, your foes are friends to gain
Forgive them, let love light your way
Forgive, soothes the pain away
Let the board sound
Rabih
Life and Death of a Fine Blade
The supreme instant before nothingness
A blinding flash faster than sight
A deadly blade of cold blue steel
For a moment beholds the might
Of what a cut can make you feel
For but a breath you’re more alive
Than ever you had been before
As in the gloom you slowly dive
Your soul is gone, you are no more
Let the board sound
Rabih
Write your thoughts into poetry
And let your poetry be love
Write your thoughts into poetry
And draw poems into colors
Play the colors into music
And sing the music into songs
Pour the songs into wine and drink
And through the wine into drunkenness
And through drunkenness to oblivion
And through oblivion, memories
Of time gone by in search of gold
Of youth, of hope, of hate, of love
For love once found, it matters not
If you find youth, if you find gold
Your only hope, to counter hate
Is rhyme and word and poetry
Then let love be your poetry
And your poetry will be love
Let the board sound
Rabih
Shades of Gloom
An ode to a country on the verge of oblivion
Shrouded in a thick veil of comfortable darkness
Purple drapes hiding your despair in shades of gloom
Diving in a sea of tranquil and somber bleakness
Hoping for oblivion, dreading the colors of bloom
For bloom is the rise of a phoenix from ashes
And to ashes returns to better rise again
Many returns carry century old flashes
Oblivious of the past the memories remain
Rise oh cedar, oh imputrescible essence
In the Book seventy times chanted by prophets
Your name bears the promise of your children’s penance
A beacon in the rhymes of desperate poets
Rise Oh Lebanon, Oh land of milk and honey
Rise to the challenge and embrace your destiny
Let the board sound
Rabih
The Poet’s Legacy
A poem, what else…
A poem be it told or kept hidden within
Is balm to feelings scorched or sword to gloating sin
Its fire purifies the souls to be redeemed
It’s honey to the heart longing to be relieved
Blessed is the poet for even he be slain,
To dust his body turns but his poems remain
He may have lived to see that he must die in vain
His solace lies within ideas that remain
Will heavens his soul claim, or shall he cross the Styx
On but a frail vessel along fellow mystics
Who dared defy the gods with but some words and rhyme
And lightly will depart when vengeance seals their crime
He parts leaving behind no legacy nor gold
His poem is a child he shall not live to raise
Entrust it to the world he leaves without a praise
His poem is the praise he never would be told
To those who will remain when everything is lost
The happy few of us who crave poems the most
His poem is a gem he bequeathed to the world
His poem is a world bequeathed to fellow men
Let the board sound
Rabih
I’m just passing by
On a cold night there’s a cold gun, burning through her hand
In the lonely town there’s a lonely girl trying to forget
The tears she cried a long time ago are still haunting her soul
And in the cold night all the pain she felt was driving her insane
Same night many years ago, lying in a bed
Torn dress, shattered look, more than she could take
What if she died a long time ago, what if she wasn’t born at all
And in the cold night all the memories unraveled in her head
And she said
You can’t hurt me, you can’t hurt me
I’m just passing by she said
I’m just passing by
©1998-2022 Rabih Borgi, Fadi Borgi, Georges El Hajal. All rights reserved.
Fall in love
Fall in love
Fool yourself
If you should
Wound yourself
Wreck your heart
If you could
Break the spell
Fight the crave
If you would
Heal the wound
Save yourself
Fall in love …
Heal your heart
Save your soul
Fall in love…
Let the board sound
Rabih
Make a difference
You’re searching in the dark, you’re wandering for light
A blaze to which you’d walk, of which you’d feel the might
You’re writing in the shade, you barely see the mark
Of words through which you write a candle in the dark
These words which have laid there before the dawn of time
While waiting for a soul to pull them into rhyme
To keep from oblivion these tales of fireflies
And out of nothingness, to gift them to the skies
A craft many embrace but only few can tame
A true craftsman of words in this fine art has aim
He writes to heal the world, he writes to end the stray
With a handful of words, he’s got this much to say:
“Create, you will be blessed if your word people liked
Create, you will be whole even if you’re disliked
The curse? There’s only one, it’s called indifference
The cure? There’s hardly one, to make a difference.”
Let the board sound
Rabih
On denial, acceptance and then …
So why does love fall apart sometimes… Many times…
If you’re a regular visitor, you might have read one of my previous posts which deals with closure, that very final stop on the side of a love and hate bumpy road, a “face à face” hopefully leading to some peace of mind and to the solo highway you probably wish you never left.
Well that’s a couple of steps forward actually. You first need to realize what hit you, accept it after having denied it, and then move on.
So here’s what could have been a bumpy road ultimately leading to closure after love fell apart.
You left me here with childish dreams and teenage memories
To sink in the oblivion of a timeless remedy
I took the weight of the years on my shoulders and your sorrows in my eyes
But you left me here to cry all the tears you would not cry
Anymore
You turned your back on our sunny days, embraced the lonely nights
You laughed your way out of those years, gave in without a fight
You say it’s better to be safe and cold than burning and alive
Living someone else’s dreams, your fantasies won’t haunt you
Anymore
Days and weeks and months and years, are slowly passing by
Time one day will cast its spell and bring the morning light
And if we meet again, I may show you all the stars you left inside
Then turn away, walk towards the sun, and you won’t see me
Anymore
Let the board sound
Rabih
On a cup of coffee
Or what closure might feel like
We meet after all these years over a cup of coffee
No more sorrows, no more tears, bitter-sweet memories
Time has gone by, years have flown, rain has fallen, winds have blown
I’ve been waiting for so long, now you’re here let’s sing along
All those things I want to say, all those words you need to hear
Do not worry do not fear, no hard feelings, sky is clear
After all ‘s been said and done, after all that we’ve become
After all the wasted time, broken dreams, shattered lives
We meet after all these tears over a cup of coffee
No more anger, no more grief, just a lonely melody
Life has gone by, friends are gone, we’ve grown older, we’ve grown cold
I’ve been waiting for so long, I’m too numb to carry on
We meet after all these years over a cup of coffee
I wish you all the best, I want you to be happy
Let the board sound
Rabih
The Idea Sounding Board 