eclectika

The Light By Nabih Saliba I light the path for all to see They shall not trip because of me How great I am that darkness flee I do all this without a fee And so it went each night for lamp Who proudly thought itself a champ But then one evening came a tramp His clothes were worn, and torn, and damp He staggered left, he stumbled right He should not try to walk at night The drunkard fell into the light Thrown from the lamp with disdain bright Why should I help this man below? He’s far beneath me don’t you know His lesser breeding clearly show This beggar can’t deserve my glow And so the lamp let darkness fall On he who lay there in a ball As shadows grew both thin and tall The lamp stood off for one and all Then suddenly the night time fled As from each corner more light bled The lamp looked ‘round and scratched its head Who brings such light? It loudly said “Your humble servant,” in reply Don’t mind me up in the sky ...

A Hair Upon His Pillow by Nabih Saliba A hair upon his pillow The scent of old perfume Both obvious reminders Someone else had shared his room There's laughter in the shower And a shirt still on the floor Just another indicator Of a night that is no more The lipstick on his collar Has been washed but still exists Like many other memories It's faded but persists The picture in his wallet Holds a copy of her smile He'd look at it quite often Though he hasn't in a while Her clothes hang in the closet Her toothbrush by the sink Now every time he sees them It makes him stop and think The bottles on the counter The wheelchair by the bed Not the promise of tomorrow But what happened here instead There's a hair upon his pillow Not a taunt to bring him strife But a blessed testimony Someone else had shared his life

Getting Along By Nabih Saliba To have patience just to listen And really slow things down So when eyes start to glisten You won’t greet them with a frown To listen is to understand Not simply wait to speak So when we lend a helping hand It’s for the thing they seek To share the pain is empathy Past understanding woe So when we offer sympathy They’ll know it’s not for show To carry someone’s burden In more than word or song Is how we’ll stop the fighting And learn to get along.

Christmas is often described with many extremes—the happiest time of the year, one of the most emotionally difficult days for many who suffer depression, a controversial affront to the politically correct and even a giant commercial ploy to extract cash from all of the aforementioned. My Christmas day is finally coming to a close and I’m sitting here thinking to myself, “If today isn’t the reason for being…what is?” Perhaps I should elaborate the origins of that last statement before rambling forth with incoherent drivel about The Season, Holiday cheer and other such clichés… As evidenced by my lack of activity here [on this blog], my life has been filled with many competing demands for my time. During the past few months, I’ve become very involved with an Improv comedy club called Madcap Theater , helped my wife design and establish GreatIdeasForKids.com and enjoyed watching my children grow up into precocious little challenges. It has also been a time of soul-searching. I’ve bee...

“Life’s too short” is a phrase often used to begin arguments for seizing some opportunity or another. I know, I’ve used this well-worn phrase myself on numerous occasions. The most curious thing to me is how often opportunities flutter past me un -seized. It isn’t until the moment is well beyond my grasp that I notice how beautiful it would have been in my collection of life experiences. Each time this happens, I promise myself that I’ll catch the next one as I set my gaze firmly on all the things that could have been—this myopic perspective setting me up to miss another dozen or so opportunities most efficiently. Recently, I rustled the neat and stagnant rhythm of my life only to be surrounded by many new choices. At the end of each choice I could see exciting and frightening new directions for my life. Some of the opportunities, while beautiful and enticing were impractical for my current role as a husband and father. Others, however, danced ahead of me in tempting circles of r...