THE AMBASSADORS
Summer Issue
REFLECTIONS
THE AMBASSADORS
Summer Issue
REFLECTIONS
Volume 2,
Issue 3
July 1999
Ms. Hala M. El-Banna has been writing
poetry since her early childhood and was awarded the Editors
Choice Award for Outstanding Achievement in Poetry presented by
the National Library of Poetry (NLP) for two consecutive years in
1994 and 1995.
She was also nominated by the Board of Directors and Advisory Committee of the International Society of Poets (ISP) as a distinguished member. Ms. El-Banna was inducted as International Poet of Merit for 1995 at the ISP Convention and Symposium in Washington, DC. She has nine excellent publications to her name, and she obtained her M.A. in the field of literary linguistics from the faculty of languages at Ain Shams University, while holding the position of Assistant Lecturer at Sadat Academy in Cairo, Egypt. She is currently enrolled in a Ph.D on psycholinguistics.
The Ambassadors previously published six other poems written
by Ms. Hala El-Banna. Those can be
viewed in the past issues ARCHIVES section.
Is there any hope, I wonder?
Sometimes
I don't find the words
To express the meaning that I want.
Sometimes the meaning itself fades
Trying t make itself come so alive.
Our thoughts are but dreams in our head
Our dreams are but aspirations of the heart.
Reality is so vivid.
It strikes us as harsh and unkind.
So, a stream of spontaneous love
Is the eternal hope for guidance and truth.
People sometimes act with an absence of wisdom and conscience,
yet call
their deeds "ACTS OF WISDOM."
In a world that has lost it's soul
In a world that has lost the essence of codes
in a world so mad as ours
I call upon those very few
Who can make a difference
To start now, for this is the time.
I long for a day that's bright
I long for a river that flows
I long for a sky so blue.
It's so obvious one has started to tire
>From all the stress and pain around
>From all the burdens of life
Indeed, from life itself.
It's so strange!
I can't find the words to express
How once friends so near
Now, part their dears.
How life can treat the young as old
The old, no more protective and caring
The youth, no more strong and loving
The rich have become so poor
The wise, no more capable.
Hopes and dreams have become words that hold no meaning.
'Love and Care' a cliche used without that air.
Friends. Oh! that's another story.
Love; a legand in a book.
Heart; an equipment that has stopped
Functioning a long time ago when people dropped
The issue and started bargining for a better bet!
Family; again that's something from the past.
Kids and laughter; a portrait far from true colors.
Colors; even those have held another meaning.
The red of love and passion has become that of war.
The blue of sky, a general mood of gloom.
The green of fertility and youth is sustituted with
Brown not that of soil, but dryness, barreness and infertility.
White; once my favorite color has now disappeared from around,
the symbol of
purity is not found,
Instead an unclear color prevails and shelters
Or would it rather be pollutes.
Is there any hope, I wonder?
To Ms. Hala M. El-Banna
The Ambassadors staff send their condolences to your father, Prof. Mahmoud El-Banna for the death of his brother, General Mohamed El-Banna, to all family members and yourself.
