Poem 022, Sonnet 9: My Friend 'Ennui' Poem by Samer Madbak

Today my friend Ennui saluted me
With that unnerving look of apathy
He’s my fraternal foe, this friend Ennui
We’re siblings bound in cognate empathy.

My friend awakes the mem’ries that I keep,
Provokes my silent soul to troubled motion,
Pervades my mind with whims, dragging me deep
Within imagination’s lurid ocean.

My friend imparts to me a blissful pain
And renders me a silent hermitage
A pantheon of misery, a fane
Of holy grief rejecting sacrilege.

So here’s a friend (you wouldn’t want to know)
He’s called Ennui, and he’s my timeless foe!


Beirut
February 2nd 1988