A Sentiment of Love

Until recently, I had no idea Billy Collins has a most-days Facebook Live broadcast.  Not every day, but most days.  Well, I think so–like I said, I just found out about it.

It’s a rambling sort of affair, and I find it to be enjoyable, in a Billy Collins sort of way.  A little of this, a little of that, and there’s also his wife in a producer/director/host role that seems to work well.  Their cat made an appearance today, which was nice.  Clearly I’ve been listening to Billy Collins, as “which was nice” isn’t something I’d normally say.

During today’s broadcast (show? presentation? episode?) he read a poem by Hayan Charara entitled “Ode on an Abandoned House,” and its last two lines have stuck with me over the hours since. 

Charara finishes his poem with, “May you live forever, / may you bury me.”

After reading the work, Collins went on to discuss an Arabic phrase, transliterated as “To’borny” or “Ya’aburnee.”  The phrase translates along the lines of “May you bury me,” and it’s a sentiment of love.  I don’t want to live without you, so I hope you bury me instead of the other way around.  To say Arabic is a poetic language is sort of an understatement, isn’t it?

My counsel to you at this moment? Use the link, read the poem, then hug (physically, if practicable) someone you love.  Reader, I hope this finds you well.