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