Goodbye Al Ain

(Adapted from Margaret Wise Brown's classic children's bedtime story, Goodnight Moon)





In the great green oasis
There were some roundabouts
And some reddish dunes
And a picture of—



Sheikh Zayed sitting all alone



And there were camels and sheep and goats from the souq



And two shopping malls
And a few forts



And a lone mountain
And some dry wadis



And henna and incense and bowls full of dates



And calls from the muezzins echoing from the mosques




Goodbye Al Ain



Goodbye crescent moons

Goodbye sheikhs and sheikhas



Goodbye roundabouts
And reddish dunes



Goodbye camels
Goodbye souqs



Goodbye Carrefour
And goodbye forts

Goodbye taxis
And goodbye marble floors



Goodbye Jebel Hafeet
And goodbye wadis

Goodbye henna
And goodbye incense



Goodbye stray cats



Goodbye dates



And goodbye to the muezzins calling from mosques

Goodbye Buraimi

Goodbye desert air

Goodbye Al Ain friends everywhere