The veil is thin

Her lips were blossoming roses on a spring eve,

her eyelashes fluttering in the breeze like a butterfly

Her skin soft, hugging me as cloud would hug a rainbow

Frolicking in the meadows of her pristine forest,

 I see the world anew

The veil is thin and the night is indigo 

The moon is bright, marble in the ether

The witching hour is upon us 

Translucent is the veil that covers us

A fever dream, on a breezy Antioch night 

A familiar face, smiling in delight

Intensely sensing the heartbeats of the gods 

Reading the minds of the crowds 

Floating  together through the city, crossing miles in no time 

We are alone amidst the Karasu and Afrin rivers, 

Two river spirits, exploding with no bounds 

    Dark gifts running amok, gently sweeping you into a trance

Helping you through the prism, in a glorious dance 

Freeing is this flight, splendor all around,

Strengthening the timeless ties of love and hate alike 

Capable of supernovas and big bangs, hope is all around

Akasha, Isis, and Roman pride, are all but a fleeting memory of the past

The uncharted Void

Deep down there is a void that no one wants to speak of. 

It's the darkest place in your being, damp and lonesome. 

Uncharted it is, yet it has and will always be there.

Whether you are happy or depressed it will always exist.

In your calmest warmest moments, it will come creeping out of nowhere. 

In your worst days, it is a constant that will never leave. 

Lurking in the back of your mind, like a demon in the deepest pits of hell

Awaiting your descent, expecting you to fall like Icarus. 

It's a lonely journey, a long night without rest,

An aimless walk in the woods and an endless drive through the desert. 

It's the only haunted mansion in the prairie, it's a deserted village 

A radioactive hospital during war, it is anything but wholesome. 

Fighting against it will never lead anywhere,

Embracing it might be a better solution.

Your shadow self, Embrace it
It is the Yin to your Yang,

The Hyde to your Jekyll, the Lestat to your Louis 

And the chaos to your calm mind.   

A duality that will never cease, a mix that you will learn to ease

A life long partnership that you will master in time. 

Like Persephone, Goddess of spring and Queen of the underworld. 

Like Hel, half dead and half alive. 

Like Blodeuwedd, the May Queen and the owl. 

A valiant soul

Fleeing a city filled with violence and greed,

Dido embarked on a journey to be freed.

Away from Pygmalion's ire,

away from Tyre's fire.

She fashioned a city of splendour,

a city feared for its grandeur.

Her wit and grit came in handy,

In a land ruled by a dandy.

Seeking to redeem her plight,

she acquired Byrsa with a bull's hide, 

without vengeance nor a fight.

The gods favoured her,
and her people praised her.

Ashtart guided this valiant soul in her mission,

peacefully building a fortress in the face of oppression.

Ba'al looked down in admiration, 

Melqart bowed to her courage in affirmation.

Tanit was overlooking every step,

making sure Dido wins the bet.

Hirbas was smitten by her beauty,
Aeneas loved her purity,
yet she stayed faithful to Acerbas' memory,
loving another would be a heresy.

She sacrificed herself to her people,
showing them that she isn't feeble
Bards still sing of her legacy,
Academics study her regency
All commoners speak of her reverently.

Dido's crown by Julie K Rose #Full Review

I should've found time to write this review  earlier , but the hectic schedule of the last months and weeks didn't give me enough space to do it.

I shall start from the very beginning . Julie K Rose approached me via a mutual friend almost a year ago before publishing  Dido's crown.

This Historical fiction is very dear to my heart because I saw it grow from being a draft to a concrete published novel . This also been my first time editing and giving input on late drafts of a  fully-fledged published author . Julie was such an awesome person to work with .

Now , let's move to the Novel itself. This historical fiction takes place between the Tunisian , French and British suburbs, but most of the events took place in the thrilling and risky tunisian setting of the 1930s .

I personally see Dido's crown  as a complex and fast paced political intrigue with  an eager attempt to quench the wanderlust of the reader as well as a way to cross time and space and revisit a magnificent and complicated era  while adding a nicely thought affair in the midst of its hassle.

here is a blurb of the Novel :

"Set in Tunisia and France in 1935, Dido's Crown is a taut literary-historical adventure influenced by Indiana Jones, The Thin Man, and John le Carré.


Mary Wilson MacPherson has always been adept at putting the past behind her: her father's death, her sister's disappearance, and her complicated relationship with childhood friends Tom and Will.
But that all changes when, traveling to North Africa on business for her husband, Mary meets a handsome French-Tunisian trader who holds a mysterious package her husband has purchased — a package which has drawn the interest not only of Britain's Secret Intelligence Service, but the Nazis as well.

When Tom and Will arrive in Tunisia, Mary suddenly finds herself on a race across the mesmerizing and ever-changing landscapes of the country, to the shores of southern France, and all across the wide blue Mediterranean. Despite her best efforts at distancing herself from her husband's world, Mary has become embroiled in a mystery that could threaten not only Tunisian and British security in the dangerous political landscape of 1935, but Mary's beliefs about her past and the security of her own future."

The author helped me see my own home country in a different light. The characters and events fitted nicely together as the intricate plot went on.  The main characters were well tailored by the author but the one that speaks to me the most must be Alain Saidini  because of his Tuniso-french background. His confidence and poise  mirrored that of Tunisian intellectuals from the 30s, also his fears and concerns made him a very relatable character, Alain was highly ambitious and driven  and in the same time a person who values family ties and that's how most tunisians are like ,until this day.

The mysterious package is something that the reader himself should discover on his own . A rise in the reader's Adrenaline is assured . The thrill of the chase and peek-a-boos with the Nazis and others, will follow the reader throughout the whole novel .

This book is simply awesome ,it has it all : a catchy setting , interesting characters and a mysterious package.

Don't hesitate to check the Author's website and order the book on Amazon , Indie Bound or any of the other bookstores mentioned on Julie's Website. 

Book haul #3 : Random Shop & Gifts

let's start with the Gifts though !
This has been long overdue . A month ago a fantastic friend gave me this beauty

 I have been thinking about buying the book for a while , until Fares told me that he got it for me yeey ! :D thank you a lot dear friend . Thanks for the other goodies .

A couple of weeks ago when I was in Tunis for some errands , I met a friend and we had a walk around downtown Tunis , meanwhile we walked by a book shop , there was no banners , nothing that showed that there was a bookshop in area at all . as fervent bookaholic my feet lead me inside , several classics saw I in my first glance and I knew that I have to narrow down my pick to at max three books . It sold new and second hand books .The first thing I picked was the complete work of Percy B.Shelley , but then I ran my fingers across the shelf and there it was "THE BEST OF SHERLOCK HOLMES" , then after it came "THE CASEBOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES AND HIS LAST BOW" and I put  the complete work of My dear Shelley back on the shelve promising him to come back again for him and his wife (I do keep my promises)

On my way out and on a whim  I picked Amélie Nothomb's book " Stupeur et tremblement"
it's never a bad idea to buy a book of hers .

Last week while browsing the thrift shop I cam upon a fantastic masterpiece , that I wanted to own for ages "The Silence of the Lambs" , only Red Dragon & Hannibal rising are missing now ( I already Have Hannibal) they are 4 four books all in all.

Special Ops PIPO : Peace IN Peace OUT #PeaceRevolutionEvent

Few months ago I came across Peace Revolution but I have never gave it ago until two days ago when my old friend Khadija invited me to her mini PIPO event . 

I initially meditate from time to time on my own whenever I find the occasion to do so , but when I saw the peace revolution program I dreaded it at first , I obviously didn't dread the outcome but I dreaded the commitment itself since it asked for a commitment 42 day of  meditation in a row and back then I was swamped by work and studies and I barely found time to sleep . 

Dija ignited the spark in time with her small but deep and mindful event . 

starting from next week I will hopefully start the online peace revolution program in hopes of applying to the peace revolution summit in Thailand that will take place next February.

On this Special Ops PIPO event we had the honor to have Baba Louay as our meditation coach , He is the regional MENA coordinator of  The Peace Revolution Foundation .

"Baba Louay and Baby Rayhoun" 

To kick things off Dija and baba Louay shared their personal experiences in relation to  meditation and the Peace revolution Foundation with all participants 

Afterwards we carried on with the meditation session , that lasted over 20 minutes but I have to tell you that it  felt less  than 10mins for me .

The calming voice of Louay took us to a different realm where time didn't matter , external distractions where persistent but with his guidance it was feasible for most of us to have a nice experience  . Imagery was flowing in my head  and it was a very pleasant ride .

Louay was a very Approachable and laid back guy , we had a  pretty chilled evening and it was quite soothing to the soul and mind to have a conversation with him after the meditation session .

The conversation cleared up few points about the why and how of meditation : methods , techniques , commitment , and most of all its benefits .

Me : During the meditation I had two conflicting images , the one you were guiding us to see which was the full moon and the one that sprang from my own mind "Sunset' , in such a situation which one should I focus on ?

Baba Louay : In such a situation forget about my voice and follow your own image 

since your mind can come up with one  follow it and focus on it forget about my presence and delve in your own realm (sorry for paraphrasing lol )

It was quite fulfilling to know that I am on the right  path but I surely still have a long way to go in the realm of peace and mindful meditation 

A huge THANKS for everyone who participated and made this event a blissful experience , thank you Baba Louay , thank you Khadija Maalej and photography credits go to Med nour Mahdi .

*SABAI,SABAI*

Reading updates #3 : three reviews at once

- La derniere odalisque: 

This book is a biography of Lella Safiyé (Princess Safiyé) from the husseinite dynasty of Tunisia , Fayçal Bey (her grandson)  tells about her struggle from her early teenagehood in the rough caucasus mountains where she miraculously escaped the  murder spree in her village ,the harsh time she spent in Istanbul witnessing the decline of the ottoman empire and learning how to be a proper odalisk (concubine) and then , how she made it all the way to Tunisia and was treated as the daughter of Lella Kmar (Wife of Naceur Bey and former Odalisk from the caucasus as well ) . These are just snippets from her story , but to dive deeper into it was a complete roller coaster . This book showed me a side of history that has always been neglected by the history books of our schools  , a part of history that we hardly know anything about ...

- Banco : further adventure of papillon by Papillon (Hénri Charriere ) : 

This is  one of those off-the-beaten-track autobiographies , it  has been given to me by a dear  traveller friend that I highly appreciate :

Henri Charriere  aka Papillon is a french citizen who has been condemned to be imprisoned  in a french penal colony  because of a crime he never committed , sentenced at the age of 24 he gains his freedom after 13 years only to be submerged with the idea of revenge , to take down all those who wronged him and made him spend the years of his youth inside the walls of a prison and in the outskirts of a penal colony . In  order to carry on with his revenge plan Papillon  had to get hold of a certain amount of money ,so he dived in illegalities. One day, after years of failure , solitude and despair. someone enlightened his life .

This is one of the stories that shows how those who are supposed to protect (police,  governments ...) can one day frame those same people they claim to protect  and be the reason of their downfall . 

-The war of the worlds by Herbert G.Wells : 

Here is another Sci-Fi  made by Herbert G wells the precursor of the genre , a classic illustrated version of War of the worlds 

 The Story itself was simple , however  it is initially the source of inspiration of a lot of scientists , writers and filmmakers ,what makes it special is the classic illustrations and the fact  that Herbert G wells is a pioneer in the genre . 

The Story talks about a martian invasion on southern England and London, and how the unnamed narrator and his brother survived the attacks .

classics such as this , have a special part in my little bookish heart .

see you soon with other updates, 

I am currently reading The invisible man by Herbert G. Wells and Al jazia-al Hilalia by Mohamed  marzouki