For Willy

Standing center stage, searching for a muse.
Scorching light splashes across my silhouette.
Willy Cochran is gone! Really?!
Eyebrows sweat, I say nothing & leave.

Azzam Elayan
April 27, 2013

No Act

Standing center stage, searching for a muse.
Scorching light splashes across my silhouette.
Eyebrows sweat, I say nothing & leave. Applause!

Azzam Elayan
April 27, 2013

Boston Boy

Yellow rage rings close to the ground so low,
the sidewalks get mangled in sorrow and steal.
Many were hit, some killed, the angels retreat.
Your little hand falls out of mine,
I stand still, for a moment, shell shocked;
the world moves across the lines of
frenzied madness, and in between.
I see the gods murmur but otherwise,
they stand still, too, 

dazed and shell shocked, like me.
Menacing horror is in synthesis,
shredding concern for every care,
in one sadistic reveal,
as I hold you to my chest and scream.
The marathon city by the bay,
with the storied streets, 

Boylston and Newbury,
the Charles River, 

flanked by Brownstone homes, 

Fenway Park,
they are mourning you, already, 

in every shade of grief.
I remember your birth, 

as a forging spring,
and I reject this moment,
it can not be real.
I whisper lullabies in your ear, my boy, 

we lie there, on the bloodied concrete,
no words tickling your lips,
no butterflies dancing on your cheeks!
I bind your wounds and kiss them,
I hold you even closer, 

your limp body clings to me.

A frantic medic instructs me, loudly: let go,

as another extracts you, swiftly, 

away from my tight embrace,

before I could say farewell;

no possible farewell could ever be!

They take your tiny frame to the world beyond, alone,

and away from my stammering heart,

far from the jagged air lining the sordid carnage,

I collapse to the ground, 

unconscious.

I dream of a little bear cup, 

hurrying from one tree trunk to the next,

looking for honey combs,

hoping to impress his daddy bear.

He finds one, he is thrilled,

beyond thrill, 

he jumps high, 

as high as he could.

He sits on a branch and reaches in, 

he grabs a handful of honey,

samples a mouthful.

Aaah, it's so delicious,

he quickly declares!

The branch beneath him breaks,

as fate intervenes,

and fate often intervenes.

He falls to the ground,

he dies,

but only for a blink of an eye!

He climbs on daddy's back,

he sings:

I love daddy and daddy loves me!

Azzam Elayan
April 17, 2013

Dedicated to the little boy, his sister, mother, and father, and all the innocent victims of the 2013 Boston Marathon tragedy. And, to innocents victims everywhere.

I Turn To You

When all the sweet-scented flowers wilt,

The gregarious laughter of my beloved ends, 

And the enchanting little blue bird

Stops coming by, 

I turn to you, 

As I always should have. 

When the stunning moonlight 

Illuminating the arc of my life dims,

The clementine water well 

At the edge of the meadow runs dry,

And dear friends walk away, 

In clusters, or one at a time,

I turn to you, even long after 

You have been gone!

Azzam Elayan

April 13, 2013

Dedicated to my dear father, Said Elayan.

(Photo Credit: Terry Sohl)