My Dog

My dog... she is the only "female" who knows loyalty and faithfulness. She is the dearest creature I have, the closest of my "lady friends" to my heart...

My dog — my good sir — is an animal I talk to, and she understands what I want better than any human being... She is my companion at home, my friend in the street, and my colleague at work... She takes part with me in acting, and she never wears me out in directing her role, for she performs it well and never forgets it, and she is never late for work... And that is why she was the "only actress" I kept on from the members of my disbanded troupe... When I traveled to Lebanon, I parted from her for the first time in my life, and she fell ill from her deep sorrow. I would often see her in my dreams... And after my return, no sooner had she caught sight of me after my absence than she stood at a distance from me — she who used to burn with longing to see me — and her eyes brimmed over with tears, as if she were saying: Shame on you, you traitor to bread and salt!...

In these last days, I have made it my habit never to leave her for a moment, for she is still in her days of mourning for her departed one, the darling of her heart, the dog "Shakl"... may God show him no mercy wherever he has gone!... For he was a "demon" in the shape of a dog!