The Fraudulent Lawyer Poem by Boghos Artinian

Raphael is good company –

he knows all my acquaintances

and shows me his 'selfies' with them.

One of those acquaintances

gave him my telephone number

and introduced him to me

with a rather urgent request:

Raphael has been stranded

in Lebanon for four years,

thanks to a fraudulent lawyer

who had been instrumental in

his deportation from Cyprus,

where he had a thriving business

in pest control-shows credentials.

He also shows me a large list

of donors supporting his stay

and raising the legal costs

of his repatriation.

They have raised enough money

but for the last three hundred Dollars

which would enable him to be

on the next flight to Cyprus.

He assures me he would return

the sum, as soon as he settles there.

I happily give him three hundred

feeling good for my benevolence.

A few months pass and I hear that

he still languishes and collects

'the critical few hundred Dollars'

from a new list of donors

in Lebanon and abroad!