Dear Marcel, Abou Charbel
The likes of you are rare
Your family outweighs all values
And your children measure up to men.
2
Bou Charbel, your imminent departure
Is without doubt, unbearable
We all lamented and wept for you
When at sixty, you abandoned us,
A priceless gift ascending to heaven.
3
In life, we all experience
Good and bad times
One day we are happy,
The other, we grieve
We are merely ashes
Returning to the soil
When reluctantly we are removed
One memory remains, the time melody
And another is kept in our mind
As a reminder that once we were here.
4
In life, we traverse many phases
At times, things become meaningless
No need for us to hear the news
And to allow worries to run us down
Up above we have many relatives
God’s plan for us is to eventually join them.
5
I swear by Almighty God,
Stating that you are almost perfect!
You, dear folks, who read poetry,
Shout and let your voice be heard
Childhood, youth, old age and death
Are the seasons of which span our life!
6
When Marcel forsook his loved ones
The joy dissipated and grief reigned.
Laure, you lost your accompanying moon
Your tears have turned to cinder
And his children wept for him feverishly.
7
Charbel your son and family mourn you
They speak with an agonizing tongue
Claire and Natalie with flooding tears
Joseph and family, towards God raise
Their shouting and painful cries!
8
Antoine soaked his clothes with tears
And George’s eyes melt in their sockets
Joseph said: Our joys are buried
Losing their brother, the three said:
Our existence resembles his departure
and today is the day of our joy’s funeral.
9
Charbel Baini, the Charbel of expatriation
And Michael his brother with infinite love
When they cry, we all hurtfully react.
They are clothed with worries
and in spirit, we are all related.
10
Charbel your brother, at this age
He sets the example and practices it
Always practicing what he preaches,
And like you, he shows his true colour.
If at any time, he unintentionally offends
He is always quick to formally apologize.
11
Marcel, we madly weep and mourn you
we lost our mind, our eyes are flooded
We love you with an absolute passion
I am sure you’ll never be forgotten
I offer my sympathy to your family and say:
May God use this sorrow to redeem all of us.
12
Marcel, you are a title of decency
And to me, in goodness you excel
I offer my deepest sympathy to Mejdlaya
And condolences to Lebanon our homeland.
**
Translated by Elie Shaanin
