Here on the Potomac

Indeed, dear Fadel, love is overpowering...
              here on the Potomac,
                     watching the Kennedy Center float by,
                 as my wife sips on her
      Syrian-made Narjileh.

The wake of uncertainty,
                                         and angst,
                       we leave behind,
  though no less overpowering,
                        is, somehow, bearable,
                                                 and ordinary,
             perhaps even too ordinary,
                  if not even mundane.

Yes, everything seems so frivolous...
        here on the Potomac,
                    all the cares of the world,
                                 and all the anxiety brought
            about by our countless fears
                                 and wishes,
      our dreams and nightmares.

For the only thing that really matters
                                         at the end of the day
            is love, dear Fadel,
                                and love does indeed overpower me...
                                      here on the Potomac,
                    watching my life goes by,
         with my wife by my side
                                             filling it,
                                                          and me,
                   with all the hope in the world
                                                    and all the warmth.

August 24, 2004

Washington, D.C.

Note: Fadel was at the time a well-known contemporary Lebanese singer. Few years later he would put his artistic past behind him, and join a Salafist Jihadi group.