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!
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem