he and she spoke for a while in Arabic and found out of course they had ten shared friends. Then I thought just for the heck of it why not call some Palestinian poets I know and let them chat with her? This all took up about two hours.
Â
She was laughing a lot by then. Telling about her life, patting my knee, answering questions. She had pulled a sack of homemade mamool cookiesâlittle powdered sugar crumbly mounds stuffed with dates and nutsâout of her bagâand was offering them to all the women at the gate. To my amazement, not a single woman declined one. It was like a sacrament. The traveler from Argentina, the mom from California, the lovely woman from Laredoâwe were all covered with the same powdered sugar. And smiling. There is no better cookie.
Â
And then the airline broke out free beverages from huge coolers and two little girls from our flight ran around serving us all apple juice and they were covered with powdered sugar, too. And I noticed my new best friendâby now we were holding handsâhad a potted plant poking out of her bag, some medicinal thing, with green furry leaves. Such an old country traveling tradition. Always carry a plant. Always stay rooted to somewhere.
Â
And I looked around that gate of late and weary ones and thought, This is the world I want to live in. The shared world. Not a single person in that gateâonce the crying of confusion stoppedâseemed apprehensive about any other person. They took the cookies. I wanted to hug all those other women, too.
Â
This can still happen anywhere. Not everything is lost.
About the Author
Naomi Shihab Nye has received a Lannan Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Witter Bynner Fellowship from the Library of Congress, and four Pushcart Prizes. Her collection 19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East was a finalist for the National Book Award, and her collection A Maze Me: Poems for Girls was an ALA Notable Book. Naomi Shihab Nyeâs longer works include two novels, Habibi and Going Going, and Iâll Ask You Three Times, Are You OK?: Tales of Driving and Being Driven.
The poet lives with her family in San Antonio, Texas.
Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author.
Credits
Jacket art © 2008 Chris Raschka
Jacket design by Chris Raschka and Sylvie Le Flocâh
Copyright
HONEYBEE . Copyright © 2008 by Naomi Shihab Nye. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Adobe Digital Edition May 2009 ISBN 978-0-06-195844-1
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
About the Publisher
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http://www.harpercollinsebooks.com.au
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HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
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http://www.harpercollinsebooks.ca
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HarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) Limited
P.O. Box 1
Auckland, New Zealand
http://www.harpercollins.co.nz
United Kingdom
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http://www.harpercollinsebooks.com
Â
She was laughing a lot by then. Telling about her life, patting my knee, answering questions. She had pulled a sack of homemade mamool cookiesâlittle powdered sugar crumbly mounds stuffed with dates and nutsâout of her bagâand was offering them to all the women at the gate. To my amazement, not a single woman declined one. It was like a sacrament. The traveler from Argentina, the mom from California, the lovely woman from Laredoâwe were all covered with the same powdered sugar. And smiling. There is no better cookie.
Â
And then the airline broke out free beverages from huge coolers and two little girls from our flight ran around serving us all apple juice and they were covered with powdered sugar, too. And I noticed my new best friendâby now we were holding handsâhad a potted plant poking out of her bag, some medicinal thing, with green furry leaves. Such an old country traveling tradition. Always carry a plant. Always stay rooted to somewhere.
Â
And I looked around that gate of late and weary ones and thought, This is the world I want to live in. The shared world. Not a single person in that gateâonce the crying of confusion stoppedâseemed apprehensive about any other person. They took the cookies. I wanted to hug all those other women, too.
Â
This can still happen anywhere. Not everything is lost.
About the Author
Naomi Shihab Nye has received a Lannan Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Witter Bynner Fellowship from the Library of Congress, and four Pushcart Prizes. Her collection 19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East was a finalist for the National Book Award, and her collection A Maze Me: Poems for Girls was an ALA Notable Book. Naomi Shihab Nyeâs longer works include two novels, Habibi and Going Going, and Iâll Ask You Three Times, Are You OK?: Tales of Driving and Being Driven.
The poet lives with her family in San Antonio, Texas.
Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author.
Credits
Jacket art © 2008 Chris Raschka
Jacket design by Chris Raschka and Sylvie Le Flocâh
Copyright
HONEYBEE . Copyright © 2008 by Naomi Shihab Nye. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Adobe Digital Edition May 2009 ISBN 978-0-06-195844-1
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
About the Publisher
Australia
HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty. Ltd.
25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)
Pymble, NSW 2073, Australia
http://www.harpercollinsebooks.com.au
Canada
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
55 Avenue Road, Suite 2900
Toronto, ON, M5R, 3L2, Canada
http://www.harpercollinsebooks.ca
New Zealand
HarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) Limited
P.O. Box 1
Auckland, New Zealand
http://www.harpercollins.co.nz
United Kingdom
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
77-85 Fulham Palace Road
London, W6 8JB, UK
http://www.harpercollinsebooks.co.uk
United States
HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
10 East 53rd Street
New York, NY 10022
http://www.harpercollinsebooks.com
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