Forty Years of Bliss
June 21, 2020
My Darling, My Mary Ann,
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY
I have often wondered why I have been so lucky.
I must have done something right on my previous journey to this planet,
and now I am reaping the reward.
When I met you,
I knew that I had discovered a new land of joy,
a whole island of happiness,
a continent of contentment,
a treasure of smiles and laughter,
a planet of love and longing,
a universe of bliss and kindness,
but my darling,
I did not know that our togetherness would chart a new odyssey,
rewrite mythology,
capture the charm of the Arabian Nights,
change the course of history,
and put into practice the teachings of the Bible forever
because I was given to be luckier than Sinbad,
greater than Odysseus,
richer than Noah,
mightier than Elijah,
chosen like Moses,
more prosperous than Jonah,
and even peaceful like The Son of Man.
Forty suitors did Odysseus overcome
because his Penelope, although faithful, was weak.
But my Queen was both faithful and strong.
Forty days and nights did the flood of Noah last.
It killed and drowned thousands, and was brutal.
But the flood of love from your heart nourished my loneliness
and watered my spirit and intellect.
Forty years the Jews wandered in the desert
searching for the Promised Land,
but when I met you,
my wandering ended,
and in your eyes,
I found my promised land.
Forty years the Jews lived in captivity in Egypt serving Pharaoh,
but for forty years, since the day I married you,
I have been free, only serving the god of love.
Forty days and nights did Moses worship and pray on Mount Sinai
waiting for an audience with Jehovah,
but I prayed and was granted an audience with the god of love
the day I stepped into the temple of your heart.
Forty days Elijah fasted on Mount Horeb,
so God could hear his prayers,
but you heard my voice calling you
through the labyrinths of time and space,
and opened the doors of eternity
for our togetherness to blossom and become immortal.
Forty days and nights the Son of Man fasted in the desert
and was tempted by Lucifer,
while I was given the elixir of immortality from your lips,
and the nourishing water of life from the fountain of your heart,
and my only temptation
was to continue to remain humble and content
and worthy of this gift.
Forty days and nights those stricken with the plague in Europe
were quarantined outside the city walls
before they were allowed admittance,
but I was instantly granted entry to the garden of your heart
without having to wait for a Quaranta.
Forty thieves did Ali Baba fight to secure the entrance to the treasure’s cave through his magical sentence: “Open Sesame”.
I also had to fight the forty evil ones who wanted to claim you
but were unworthy of the dust on your shoes.
Your love gave me the magical potion to slay the dragon
and open the gate to our paradise.
You have been with me since the beginning of time.
We are one.
We are the word, and you are the “I” in the “ME”.
We are inseparable, yet individually we are.
We separately stand next to each other.
For we are the duality in the trinity, the elite dual, the oneness of dualism.
We are tranquility because we are the harmony of motion,
the perfect union between the opposite and the similar.
You were with me when the Holy Spirit hovered over the chaos
dividing the light from darkness
and separating the land from the sea.
We named all creation,
and we planted the tree of knowledge,
but we did not eat of its fruit.
You were with me in Phoenicia, Babylon, Rome, Athens, Byblos, Atlantis, Troy, Carthage, Beirut, Tyre, and in Mesopotamia.
You were there when we built cities,
when we invented the alphabet,
sailed the Mediterranean,
captured the wind,
and set Prometheus free from tyranny.
You were with me when I was Aeneas, Odysseus, Prometheus, Hannibal, Gilgamesh, Adonis, Hector, Baal, Peter, Tariq, and Khalid.
We are the alpha and the omega
because we also are without end.
I carry you in my heart an icon of light,
a beacon of hope,
and I hold on to your voice as a guide and a shepherd.
That day when I was lost and forgot my way back
after they had cut open my chest
looking to find you there inside of me,
that day, it was your voice that guided me back to you, my Love.
Your voice was the lighthouse that showed my broken sails
the safe harbor of your arms and the warmth of your heart.
I had promised not to leave you,
that I would come back when you called for me.
I never lied to you, or disappointed you,
or wanted you to be left alone
because for us, there is no alone.
This word simply does not exist in our alphabet.
Honey, all this is true and important.
All human mythologies, histories, and religions are important,
but what is the most important and the most sacred
is the history that we create together.
As I have always told you:
“It is the little things than count the most.”
These are the real “US” during our most innocent, intimate, and spontaneous moments when we:
Drink our morning coffee together,
when we take our walks,
when we sit and chat,
and walk holding hands,
when we sit on the couch,
watch a movie,
laugh and comment,
go to bed together,
make love like there is no tomorrow,
cook together
and do the dishes,
when you iron my shirts
and when I rub your feet and your back,
when I take you in my arms and kiss you
and say I love you a hundred times a day,
when we say grace
and give gratitude for our life together,
for our love and happiness,
when we get thrilled because finally
you are growing your fingernails,
coloring your toenails,
and your hair is as long as it used to be
when I first met you,
when you allow me to trim your hair,
and you trim my eyebrows,
when we sit together in each other’s arms
and feel peace and tranquility
because we feel safe,
we feel that we have arrived
and that all is well,
when I buy you three or more dozen roses and flowers
for our anniversary
and surprise you and you surprise me back
with a magical look on your glorious face,
when we remember
and re-live our love story from the beginning,
how we eloped and took a huge leap of faith
and how we now reap the fruit of our love
because our faith in ourselves and in God
was greater than the powers which tried to destroy us.
What we did, especially you, took courage
And it was certainly a poetic moment
when we stood under the streetlamp on Binghamton’s campus
after an extremely emotional night,
and you said your most famous four words looking into my eyes:
“TAKE ME WITH YOU.”
I felt that my world was about to change forever,
that my life would never be the same,
but I knew that your voice thundering these sacred words
was the voice of destiny
and the powers shaping our future had finally reached their destination
and had taken control of our journey.
We are one my Love
when you read what I write
and appreciate it and correct it with love.
Our memories will last forever:
When you surprised me with a visit to campus
Forty years ago
and I knew that you had arrived
because I smelled your perfume on my way to the library
even before seeing you.
When our hands touched on our way to the falls in Ithaca
and we felt the thunderbolt passing through our bodies
and the river of life running through our hearts and minds,
And now we find joy in the simple pleasures of life:
Like two children
we get excited when we sell a book on Amazon
and feel we are reaching out and helping another person
learn something new.
Like two children
we stand by the window
and smile at the birds and the deer
peacefully playing and eating in our backyard.
We are the Poet and the Lover:
when we touch hands
and our fingers automatically lock together,
when we plan a BBQ in the backyard
and eat outside and remember our daily BBQs in Ithaca
at 4G Pleasant Grove Apts. or at 134 Graham Road,
when you smile for me every minute of every day,
and hand me the sun and the moon
with every act of kindness and gesture of love,
when you sit and relax
and sigh to express your joy and contentment,
when you sleep in our bed the whole night
without getting up to watch Blue Bloods,
when we discuss our finances
and feel grateful
because we know that we only have ourselves to depend on,
when we reminisce about our life,
our house and friends in Lebanon
and feel nostalgic and emotional,
when you prepare my medicine
and take care of me because you like to,
and when I fill your glass with water,
bring your calcium pill,
and care for you because I want to,
and because it gives me such joy and gratitude
simply because I can still do this for you, for us,
my eternal flower, my garden of Eden, my sweet bird of paradise, my sweet Mary Ann.
These are the moments that count
and will be recorded in the BOOK of Life in Paradise.
Remember what Gibran said:
“He, who does not see the Kingdom of God on this earth, will not see it in the Hereafter.”
Every day with you is paradise on earth
and will continue to be ever after,
for he who finds his soulmate
and knows how to keep her
will never lose her again.
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY
I have often wondered why I have been so lucky.
I must have done something right on my previous journey to this planet,
and now I am reaping the reward.
When I met you,
I knew that I had discovered a new land of joy,
a whole island of happiness,
a continent of contentment,
a treasure of smiles and laughter,
a planet of love and longing,
a universe of bliss and kindness,
but my darling,
I did not know that our togetherness would chart a new odyssey,
rewrite mythology,
capture the charm of the Arabian Nights,
change the course of history,
and put into practice the teachings of the Bible forever
because I was given to be luckier than Sinbad,
greater than Odysseus,
richer than Noah,
mightier than Elijah,
chosen like Moses,
more prosperous than Jonah,
and even peaceful like The Son of Man.
Forty suitors did Odysseus overcome
because his Penelope, although faithful, was weak.
But my Queen was both faithful and strong.
Forty days and nights did the flood of Noah last.
It killed and drowned thousands, and was brutal.
But the flood of love from your heart nourished my loneliness
and watered my spirit and intellect.
Forty years the Jews wandered in the desert
searching for the Promised Land,
but when I met you,
my wandering ended,
and in your eyes,
I found my promised land.
Forty years the Jews lived in captivity in Egypt serving Pharaoh,
but for forty years, since the day I married you,
I have been free, only serving the god of love.
Forty days and nights did Moses worship and pray on Mount Sinai
waiting for an audience with Jehovah,
but I prayed and was granted an audience with the god of love
the day I stepped into the temple of your heart.
Forty days Elijah fasted on Mount Horeb,
so God could hear his prayers,
but you heard my voice calling you
through the labyrinths of time and space,
and opened the doors of eternity
for our togetherness to blossom and become immortal.
Forty days and nights the Son of Man fasted in the desert
and was tempted by Lucifer,
while I was given the elixir of immortality from your lips,
and the nourishing water of life from the fountain of your heart,
and my only temptation
was to continue to remain humble and content
and worthy of this gift.
Forty days and nights those stricken with the plague in Europe
were quarantined outside the city walls
before they were allowed admittance,
but I was instantly granted entry to the garden of your heart
without having to wait for a Quaranta.
Forty thieves did Ali Baba fight to secure the entrance to the treasure’s cave through his magical sentence: “Open Sesame”.
I also had to fight the forty evil ones who wanted to claim you
but were unworthy of the dust on your shoes.
Your love gave me the magical potion to slay the dragon
and open the gate to our paradise.
You have been with me since the beginning of time.
We are one.
We are the word, and you are the “I” in the “ME”.
We are inseparable, yet individually we are.
We separately stand next to each other.
For we are the duality in the trinity, the elite dual, the oneness of dualism.
We are tranquility because we are the harmony of motion,
the perfect union between the opposite and the similar.
You were with me when the Holy Spirit hovered over the chaos
dividing the light from darkness
and separating the land from the sea.
We named all creation,
and we planted the tree of knowledge,
but we did not eat of its fruit.
You were with me in Phoenicia, Babylon, Rome, Athens, Byblos, Atlantis, Troy, Carthage, Beirut, Tyre, and in Mesopotamia.
You were there when we built cities,
when we invented the alphabet,
sailed the Mediterranean,
captured the wind,
and set Prometheus free from tyranny.
You were with me when I was Aeneas, Odysseus, Prometheus, Hannibal, Gilgamesh, Adonis, Hector, Baal, Peter, Tariq, and Khalid.
We are the alpha and the omega
because we also are without end.
I carry you in my heart an icon of light,
a beacon of hope,
and I hold on to your voice as a guide and a shepherd.
That day when I was lost and forgot my way back
after they had cut open my chest
looking to find you there inside of me,
that day, it was your voice that guided me back to you, my Love.
Your voice was the lighthouse that showed my broken sails
the safe harbor of your arms and the warmth of your heart.
I had promised not to leave you,
that I would come back when you called for me.
I never lied to you, or disappointed you,
or wanted you to be left alone
because for us, there is no alone.
This word simply does not exist in our alphabet.
Honey, all this is true and important.
All human mythologies, histories, and religions are important,
but what is the most important and the most sacred
is the history that we create together.
As I have always told you:
“It is the little things than count the most.”
These are the real “US” during our most innocent, intimate, and spontaneous moments when we:
Drink our morning coffee together,
when we take our walks,
when we sit and chat,
and walk holding hands,
when we sit on the couch,
watch a movie,
laugh and comment,
go to bed together,
make love like there is no tomorrow,
cook together
and do the dishes,
when you iron my shirts
and when I rub your feet and your back,
when I take you in my arms and kiss you
and say I love you a hundred times a day,
when we say grace
and give gratitude for our life together,
for our love and happiness,
when we get thrilled because finally
you are growing your fingernails,
coloring your toenails,
and your hair is as long as it used to be
when I first met you,
when you allow me to trim your hair,
and you trim my eyebrows,
when we sit together in each other’s arms
and feel peace and tranquility
because we feel safe,
we feel that we have arrived
and that all is well,
when I buy you three or more dozen roses and flowers
for our anniversary
and surprise you and you surprise me back
with a magical look on your glorious face,
when we remember
and re-live our love story from the beginning,
how we eloped and took a huge leap of faith
and how we now reap the fruit of our love
because our faith in ourselves and in God
was greater than the powers which tried to destroy us.
What we did, especially you, took courage
And it was certainly a poetic moment
when we stood under the streetlamp on Binghamton’s campus
after an extremely emotional night,
and you said your most famous four words looking into my eyes:
“TAKE ME WITH YOU.”
I felt that my world was about to change forever,
that my life would never be the same,
but I knew that your voice thundering these sacred words
was the voice of destiny
and the powers shaping our future had finally reached their destination
and had taken control of our journey.
We are one my Love
when you read what I write
and appreciate it and correct it with love.
Our memories will last forever:
When you surprised me with a visit to campus
Forty years ago
and I knew that you had arrived
because I smelled your perfume on my way to the library
even before seeing you.
When our hands touched on our way to the falls in Ithaca
and we felt the thunderbolt passing through our bodies
and the river of life running through our hearts and minds,
And now we find joy in the simple pleasures of life:
Like two children
we get excited when we sell a book on Amazon
and feel we are reaching out and helping another person
learn something new.
Like two children
we stand by the window
and smile at the birds and the deer
peacefully playing and eating in our backyard.
We are the Poet and the Lover:
when we touch hands
and our fingers automatically lock together,
when we plan a BBQ in the backyard
and eat outside and remember our daily BBQs in Ithaca
at 4G Pleasant Grove Apts. or at 134 Graham Road,
when you smile for me every minute of every day,
and hand me the sun and the moon
with every act of kindness and gesture of love,
when you sit and relax
and sigh to express your joy and contentment,
when you sleep in our bed the whole night
without getting up to watch Blue Bloods,
when we discuss our finances
and feel grateful
because we know that we only have ourselves to depend on,
when we reminisce about our life,
our house and friends in Lebanon
and feel nostalgic and emotional,
when you prepare my medicine
and take care of me because you like to,
and when I fill your glass with water,
bring your calcium pill,
and care for you because I want to,
and because it gives me such joy and gratitude
simply because I can still do this for you, for us,
my eternal flower, my garden of Eden, my sweet bird of paradise, my sweet Mary Ann.
These are the moments that count
and will be recorded in the BOOK of Life in Paradise.
Remember what Gibran said:
“He, who does not see the Kingdom of God on this earth, will not see it in the Hereafter.”
Every day with you is paradise on earth
and will continue to be ever after,
for he who finds his soulmate
and knows how to keep her
will never lose her again.
