Skipping Down The Passage To Registry… Poem by Margaret Alice

Filing to the tune of Dalida
singing Arabic music, the rhythm
makes me move like a camel and
the words – baladii, my country
and habibii – my beloved, makes
concentration on French reports
and Chinese legal documents
difficult indeed – keeping
to the rhythm when skipping down
the passage to registry, is an art
- my body moves all by
itself, I have no control over the
rhythm invading every part of
me, I have to can-can to
w lamma nadaanii, and sing
fid-dunya al-kabiirah – in the
big world – with her, because
she brings the big world into
my office, into my heart; and
frees me of the restraints
of my daily chores!