Friday, September 12, 2008

FLY

FLY
lyrics and song by Joseph Bishara
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I want a boat. maybe a train.
I want a chopper made of copper,
or an aerey-o-plane.
rocketships can get me fame.
I know what I want to try -
fly

found it hard finding home.
caught my stinger in the wringer.
worked my fingers to the bone.
my heavy hand picks up the phone
to give it another try
fly

ups and downs, thin and fat,
got my highs and my lows and all of that,
when the blues fall through to a deep blue vat,
don't forget where it's at -- and why,
fly

a breath in me, a breath in you
i'm not one who will tell you what to say or do
but a broken heart won't pull you through
set your sights on something up in the sky.
fly

missed the boat. skipped that train.
lost a chopper made of copper,
and a silly old plane.
rocketships aren't all the same.
spread my wings and leave a nest behind -
fly

Leap New Year Baby

Interesting opportunity for teaching: By the Gregorian calendar, I was born September 12th 1971. However, according to the Coptic calendar ('annuit coeptis' written on the back of every U.S. dollar over the pyramid) I was born on new year's day, 1 Thoout, 1688 A.M. (Anno Martyrum). The 12th of September and the 1st of Thoout correspond with each other only once every four years (because of leap year day). This year, the 1st of Thoout is today, September 11th. I think it's kind of cool to be a Leap New Year's baby. So I've decided to celebrate my birthday on whichever day the Coptic Anno Martyrum begins (usually the 11th but every once in a while the 12th). Happy New Year or "Head of the Year" as they say in Arabic (Ross-elSanna) or in Hebrew (Rosh-aShanna).

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Slave With A King's Ransom

by Joseph Bishara

What did the slave buy
with a king's ransom?
Filth, ragged and frayed.
When the king passed by
How he wished he were handsome
for the sum of the treasure he'd paid.

Was it loss of place
that gave him cause
to seize his garment to wrent?
Or the fall from grace
giving him pause
for the harm it surely had meant.