Ode to a Familiar Unknown

‘Twas on a sunny afternoon,
On my way back home,
That my eyes chance upon
A familiar profile
Standing on the sidewalk,
Talking with gestures that I know
So well…

The blood in my veins
Rush to my heart that leaps
In an exhilarating rhythm,
Pounding like it does
When I’m waking up
From those dreams
Where I’m falling from the skies…

Alas…my heartbeat subsides
As I come to realize
That he is not you,
And my longing remains
But I am not disappointed,
For now I miss you
A moment less than eternity…

Copyright © 2007 Daisy Tchiftjian

In the Name of Patriotism v2.0

In referrance to "In The Name of 'Justice and Patriotism'"(http://femmeterrible.blogspot.com)

It’s been more than two weeks since the development of violence in Tripoli, north of Lebanon. And as if its escalation wasn’t enough for a country barely emerged from a devastating war last summer, more violence has expanded throughout the south as well.

For the moment, I don’t wish to go through the details of how, why and when, and who is to blame. Still, my heart goes out to every single falling soldier in the fields…

…And to their loved ones.
…To the ones who cry their hearts and souls out.
…To the woman who lost consciousness during the funeral.
…To the wives and children who have to carry on with the pain, being at loss themselves…
…And I watch, in the news, as a colonel or a commander-in-chief presents a medal of honor to the family of the slain, and I think to myself: That medal won’t bring him back; perhaps that was his dream - to die in the battlefield in the name of patriotism, but looking at that medal, to the heroism it represents, I wonder what’s more dear to his mother: her son’s life itself or the heroic memory he left behind?

Copyright © 2007 Daisy Tchiftjian