An Oriental Tapestry
By Way
of a Eulogy
Your
Majesty,
you are dying.
The days are
no longer the Days, and men no longer the Men.
Your
Majesty,
you are bequeathing us a crisis of faith.
The days are
no longer the Days, and men no longer the Men.
Your
Majesty,
transition of power is never easy in an
authoritarian state.
The days are
no longer the Days, and men no longer the Men.
Your
Majesty,
why couldn't it be some other bloody Middle Eastern
president or king?
The days are
no longer the Days, and men no longer the Men.
Your
Majesty,
pray forgive me, but I have to confess a rather
poignant thing.
The days are
no longer the Days, and men no longer the Men.
Your
Majesty,
no matter
what you have done,
no matter what you say,
no matter what you think,
in popular imagination,
you will forever remain
a symbol of… treason
albeit mixed with
some grace.
For the days,
since forever, have not been the Days, and men not been the Men.
Ours, I am
afraid, is a continuing legacy of agitation, suspicion and hate.
Notes
1) Written on February 5, 1999, on the occasion of
King Hussein’s final return to his homeland, Jordan, for the avowed purpose
of dying in his country and among his people.
2)
The days are no longer the Days, and men no longer the
Men:
“lâ al-dinyeh dinyeh, wa lâ al-nâs nâs,” a popular Syrian
saying. [note: â, stands for a long a].
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