With the Enemy Lines

With the enemy lines
                    as my witness
                    — the ones that are
real, and the ones
which the eyes cannot
see;

with a broken Beirut
                    as my witness
                    — and the one we build
in our dreams;

with the pavements
shrouded with water
as my witness
                    — the droplets that fell
                    from the evening sky,
and the ones that dropped
from the feathery leaves
of all the trees;

with every stone I walk on
as my witness
                    — and the ones we are yet
                    to tread on
/
I promise to love you,
                    and to stay:
                                        today,
                                                            tomorrow,
                                                            every after-tomorrow /
                                                                                and all the after-tomorrows.

—R.

© 2021 Rhéa Hleihel. All rights reserved.
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