Friday, November 3, 2006

Daughters of Eve


Daughters of Eve, standing tall

No need to shout, when we know how to purr

The world is feral enough as is

No need for scuffles to be unleashed

***

Daughters of Eve, elegant and pretty

Sauntering the globe and making it giddy

Fashion is our friend, our ally, our comrade

Our comfort blanket when things go bad

***

Daughters of Eve, with manicured claws

Wrapped in gloves of silk, not to be exposed

Except if injured, wounded or used

True to our nature, we won't be abused

***

Daughters of Eve, mistook for frail

Gentleness a quality we hold quite dear

Benevolence a trait ought to be shared

An attribute as potent as it is misread

***

Daughters of Eve, truly blessed to be so

With chocolates for penicillin and true friendship as cure

For all the ailing we may suffer or endure

Eve has taught us well, how to get along in this world

***

Daughters of Eve, sisters of mine,

What joins us together is stronger than blood line

We share a passion for all things divine

A sisterhood as eternal as the daily sunshine

***
© Sherine Meshad, 3 Nov 2006

Thursday, October 26, 2006

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall


Mirror, mirror on the wall,

I look at you and see no one at all,

A shadow of a person with no reflection,

Living a life with no exemption.

***

Mirror mirror tell me true,

Who is that stranger staring at you,

With no hopes of an existence anew,

And a broken spirit to carry him through.

***

Mirror mirror don’t pronounce

How that person once was found,

traveling free and wondering whole

Through an awe filled world of gold

***

Mirror mirror, how could it be?

Life has gone by quite swiftly

Could that person truly be,

The same one staring back at me.

***

© Sherine Meshad, 26 Oct 2006

Monday, September 25, 2006

Thoughts of a Sleepless Night



This is in no way a poem ... these are just thoughts of a sleepless night

The clock is ticking away
It's way past the middle of the night
Eyes stay wide awake
Nothing could clear my mind.
***
The brain is a jumble of thoughts
Too loud for me to pay no heed
Too fuzzy to make sense of
Too bizarre to brand my own.
***
The clock is ticking away,
Life has a funny way of fast forwarding
The present is recollection,
The future is long-ago.
***
A child breathe to enjoy the now
Adolescence exist to dream of a future
Adult survive to get through the day
The elderly live to reminisce over the past.
***
Friendships are reflections
A clear slide to see one's self
As guiltless as the inner child
As sinister as that secret demon
***
Cliché: "Time cures all pains"
The label reads: balm for the soul
Caution: overuse might lead to numbness of senses.

Reality of the matter is, no matter what, it goes on.

***

Making no sense,

In no particular order,

That’s what insomnia does to a person

Must sleep now, system shutting down.
***

Over and out

© Sherine Meshad, 25 Sept. 2006

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

The Cow Parade: For Art, For Charity, For Fun (The Art Review, Aug 2006)


Article published in "The Art Review", July 2006




"Art is about breaking down barriers. It gets people to feel, to think, to react. So when you come across life-sized cow sculptures that have been covered in mirrors or gumdrops, cows that have been painted with elaborate themes or transformed into something else entirely, you can’t help but stop and think about what it means. All your preconceived ideas go out the window. Suddenly people see that art can be fun and that art can be interesting to everyone, not just people who frequent museums."
Peter Haning

For full article, please click on image

The Cow Parade
, the world’s largest public art event. From Chicago and New York in 1999 and 2000 to Greece in 2006, CowParade continues to evolve, not just in size, but in creativity and quality of art. While the cow sculptures remain the same, each city’s artists are challenged by the art from past events, inspired by the cultural influences of their respective cities, and moved by their own interpretation of the cow as an art object.

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

The Beach Experience



The deep calls my name, its’ hum,

That of the waves … repetitive,

That of snake charmers … hypnotizing.

***

Glistening diamond rays of light,

Dance joyfully along the horizon,

Beckoning with a playful wink.

***

Retracting sands under foot,

Whispers a cautious warning,

“Don’t follow the rhythm”.

***

Whilst flirty summer breeze,

Teases curls of hair to life,

Fashioning chaos, a blissful sight.

***

Sea froth come forth to sponge away

Messages of love, hurt and dreams

Scribbled hastily on shifting sands

***

The sun disk beyond keeps watch,

Tracing figures over yearning skin,

Tinting it with adoring warmth.

***

Plunging thy soul into the sea,

Immersed in its eternal vastness,

Can’t fight enchantment.
***

© Sherine Meshad, 22 Aug 2006


Sunday, July 30, 2006

City of Sam


Article Published in "The Art Review", June2006
The City of Sana'a also dubbed City of Sam, is one of the oldest in the world, the old city is a UNESCO Heritage Site , it is also one of the cradels of civilization.
Definatly worth visiting

For the full article click on the image

Monday, July 17, 2006

The Drums of War


Paint the windows black,

Turn the light off,

Hide your head in the sand,

And maybe tomorrow will come.

***

Pack the house with supplies,

Is there gas in the car?

Are the children all right?

Will tomorrow ever come?

***

Has my neighbor's house got bombed?

Are the roads all wrecked and broken?

Is that fire in the horizon?

Or the sun, just turning down.

***

Is the sky tearing up inside?

Thundering, roaring in rage and fury,

Is the rain falling for the heavens?

Or just bullets, drizzling down.

***

When has quiet turn to screaming?

Did the birds of peace take flight?

War has started while we're sleeping,

And tomorrow might never come.

***

© Sherine Meshad, 17 July 2006


Thursday, July 6, 2006

A Fishing Trip


Calm waters, a single line,

Hook and sinker trailing behind

Wait is long as time stands still,

In the middle of an ocean, where all is well.
***

Thoughts and memories go through the mind

Of a fisherman awaiting fortune to unwind

The morning sun is bright in the heavens

As land beckons waves to shore
***

"The deep" whispers in a voice unheard,

As hook is tangled in the catch's gorge,

Twisting and turning in anguished plea,

Skipping over waters, begging for sea.
***

The line is tout, hands bringing in

A cumbersome prize, a trophy, a win!

And as it struggles to remain alive,

In a battle of wills the encounter is finalized.
***

© Sherine Meshad, 6 July 2006

Friday, June 30, 2006

Alhambra - An Arabian Gem in the Spanish Crown















First article I ever write, and in my opinon my best, published in 'The Art Review' , June 2006.

Alhambra is an enchanted, magical palace in the heart of Andalusia and no words, music or painting can do it justice. you have to visit it to even begin to imagen the beauty this fortress hold for the beholder.

Monday, March 13, 2006

Shadows of Reality

Shadows on the ceiling,

Spreading over the walls,

Products of a string of light,

where darkness took its toll.

***

Hopes and memories unleashed,

On an unexpected world,

Threaten the false sanity,

Of a numbed-out, dried-up core.

***

Fragile we are my friends,

With a false sense of control,

When a simple gush of wind,

Could simply break our hold.

***

Conceited in our belief

In an everlasting world

For today is just a delusion

When tomorrows’ reality draws.

***

© Sherine Meshad, 13 March 2006

Can’t be drifting like a cloud


Can’t be drifting like a cloud

Floating high above the ground

***

Altering shapes and switching forms

Transforming with the tide

***

Searching everywhere in sight

For a glimpse of soul that shine

***

Through the porthole of your eyes
***

© Sherine Meshad, 13 March 2006


Sunday, February 26, 2006

A Passing Glance

It was a cloudy, and dusty Saturday afternoon , I was rushing to pick up the phone… but it does take an awfully long time to reach the phone these days.

“Hello”

“Mother it’s Ali, are you ready?? We are almost out of the door … we will be at the house in twenty minutes, ok?”

“Yes dear, I am all dressed, I’m just watching this soap on TV… such a nice show”

“Ok mother we’re on our way then”

Its been a tradition with my son, every Saturday he would pick me up at around noon and take me out for the afternoon… such a good boy, my son … never forgets to call his mama, always makes sure to take me out in the weekend. It has been much harder for me to get out since the operation … I can’t drive anymore, which is all as well, I can’t see that good anyways… the crutches were not as much of an annoyance as that damned wheelchair… oh well that’s life I guess.

A half an hour later the doorbell rings .. it rings and rings and rings and slowly I roll over to open it, its Ali and his best friend Ramy, dear dear boys, grew up to be respectable business men. We go downstairs and the boys are chatting about a tennis match they just finished.. Ali always liked to play tennis, didn’t ever stop since his dad and I have given him his first racket as his ninth birthday present. How the years rush by and how memories keep bombarding this senile brain of mine these days.

“Oh my, we’re here already! Time does fly, doesn’t it boys?” … we have to wait for the elevator to take us up to the next floor… its quite grand compared to the ones of my time, though the old ones where nice wooden ones, the marvel of there time. We roll into the elevator and it stops again, a mother with a toddler in her stroller come in… our eyes meet the toddler and I, the briefest longest most agonizing moment of my life…

I was a youngster once, it does seem hard to believe that this wrinkled aged old body was once as soft smooth and pain free as this brown eyed youngster. Where did the years go? My mother used to push my cart around just like this, she’d then take me to the sweet shop and buy me my favorite candy, she always took such good care of me, oh how I miss you mummy… how I miss going to school in my freshly ironed uniform with my school bag on my back and my younger brothers hand in mine and my friends waiting by the school door… we’d run around and play hide and go seek, never getting tired only stopping when the school bell rings to end the break… I should have paid more attention in class … should have stopped doodling in my copybooks and actually heard what the teachers were saying…I should have never lost touch with Sarah, she was such a good friend… she died at such a young age… dear Sarah… such an angel, but life is like that, you get used to it. Its just such a shock when your young … Sarah and I went shopping for her wedding dress together, we giggled and laughed like the silly excitable girls we were! And what a gorgeous dress it was … she looked like a princess… her accident was so tragic, such a waste…. a young wife and mother, Ramy has went through so much suffering without his mother… but he is such a strong willed boy… I remember how he nursed that stray dog back to life when we all thought he was a goner… he fed that poor animal and played with him and cared for him till one day he just got off his feet and turned into the more energetic puppy you’d ever see… they were inseparable the boys and the dog!! Oh how the years fly…

The Elevator comes to a stop, Ali pushes my chair out of the elevator and I take one last glance at the girl in the stroller. I’ve blown out my 78th birthday candle last week and in between my first candle and my last I’ve lived, I’ve loved and I’ve lost… but what would I give to feel what that little girl is feeling for just one day… the unconditional love and protection surrounding her and pushing her along.


It was a cloudy, and dusty Saturday afternoon, my birthday is in 3 days mummy tells me I will be four years old… old enough to go to school like Laila and Adam.

“Mummy I wanted to go to the club today” but mummy said “its all yucky outside today sweetie, so instead lets go to the fun faire with all the nice rides”

“But Mummy I wanna go on the swings and have cotton candy, pretty please mummy!!”

“How bout you ride the train that goes round and round instead??”

“mmm train is fun…. But can I still get cotton candy mummy??”

“Yes habibity, we’ll get you cotton candy… its your birthday in three days you know??”

“Do I get to blow candles out and open up presents too mummy??

“yes honey now off you go to your room, we need to choose something to wear today and then we will be on our way, we have a lot to do today… we have to buy you something nice to wear in your birthday party, you want to look like a princess right??”

“Oh yes mummy … I wanna look like a princess!!”

I chose to wear Barbie boots with my blue jeans and pink butterfly top … I am now old enough to ride beside mummy “as long as you have your seatbelt on dear” she always says…

“I wanna ride in my cart mama”

“Firo, your old enough to walk with mummy”

“but mum ,… please please please can I ride my cart, I don’t wanna walk … please”

“Ok dear but just this once”

We get into the big elevator but it is too crowded … I cant see the window… I usually like to see the window … it has a really nice view!! There is another cart in the elevator … this one has an old lady in it… she is as old as nana … I thought when you start to go to school you stop riding baby carts … the old lady looks sad… she looks like she wants to tell me something… but she doesn’t say anything… weird how old people look so tired and sad… I like being pushed in my cart but old lady doesn’t seem to be happy… oh the elevator stopped … goody … maybe I can get mummy to take me to the face painting place too… I can get a butterfly that matches my top… I can’t wait till my birthday …. Then I won’t have to go to the nursery anymore, I will be old enough to ride the bus with Laila and Adam and I will put on the red and blue uniform as well and be grownup!!

Oh goody only three days to go and I will grow up!!


It was a cloudy, and dusty Saturday afternoon , we were at the mall .. .my friend and I… exhausted from a long day of shopping, shopping and more shopping … each with her shopping bags in one hand and her purse in the other, we decided to go up for a bite at one of our favorite restaurants in the shopping center … satisfied with our 3 hour workout of going from one store to the next… we opted for the elevator to whisk us up to the upper floor restaurant for our lunch. It came to a halt in the first floor and a man pushing a wheelchair with his mother in it came in, the elevator door closed and it moved up to the second floor where again it came to a halt and this time a mother pushing her 4 year old daughter came in, and a glance ... a split second of recognition, confusion and amazement passed between that little girl in her crib and the aged women in her wheel chair... the elevator stops at our floor and on our way to lunch we mention that point.

“Did you notice what happened in the elevator” my friend asked

“The young girl and the old lady? Yes I noticed” “Could be the subject of an interesting story” My friend continued “what went through their mind in that split second of recognition … reminds me of something I read once, remind me to tell you about it”

We went on our way … picked up our lunch… work again tomorrow but hey at least we each got a belated birthday present when we went shopping today.


Written by Sherine Meshad

Thursday, February 16, 2006

In Memory of El-Salam Boccaccio 98


A vessel lost in ample mist

Misfortune least expected

A father, a mother, a sister, a brother

Eternally lost to the treacherous blue

***

Curled up inside a womb,

Sinking down into the deep,

Slicing through absolute silence,

Carving a tomb for a soul to lay

***

Anguished hearts beseeching a miracle

Deep down knowing its too late to plea

The flame burnt out from life’s candle

As darkness descends in final farewell.

***

© Sherine Meshad, 16 Feb 2006


Tuesday, January 17, 2006

A Birth of a Legend




Dearly departed,

In my mind eyes

you roam the meadow

Shimmering white mane of snow

Alabaster horn of unblemished light

A healer of mind and soul

***

Stabbed by cowardly human spears

And in the bright of day

A creature of myth lies to die in silence

And that’s how a legend appears.
***

© Sherine Meshad, 17 Jan 2006


Sunday, January 15, 2006

The Faint Pulse of Life

There’s still a pulse,

A faint beat of a trampled heart,

The film is rolling with no sound,

Muted screams of a vacant mind.

***

Sunbeams raining, cold as ice,

Soak the skins of a desperate life,

While raindrops plunge to sting the eyes,

Burning holes through shattered lies.

***

© Sherine Meshad, Jan 2006

Wednesday, January 4, 2006

Plagued Immortality of the Living Dead

Creature of the dark,

Creeping behind the silhouette of night,

Plummeting your teeth in earthly flesh,

Craving crimson streams running through fresh veins.

***

Sipping at souls of mortal beings,

Eternally seeking to quench thy thirst,

Cold heart, not one beat left,

Plagued immortality of the living dead.

***

Shedding goodness, flaking deceit,

Forever beset to shun the sun,

Infinity fade with a piercing stake,

Driven into your lifeless chest.
***

© Sherine Meshad, 4 Jan 2006

Children in Cemetery Grounds


Happy children playing ball,

A joyous image for one to hold.

***

But playing in cemetery grounds?

Where restless souls can now be found?

***

Children of five and six I saw,

Making cheery noises, that children do.

***

Driving by the scene, lost in thought,

The image struck me, socked me to the core.

***

Our hearts have grown quite cold with time,

Children begging in streets, doesn’t strike me down.

***

But amazement grows in this heart of mine

At joyous children in the cemetery ground
***

© Sherine Meshad, 4 Jan 2006