Ahlām Dha’ea

There once lived a boy in this Arab land by the name of Mu-saa who—with a very simple heart—had a very curious mind. And one day as he saw a sandstorm brewing along the horizon, he asked his father a simple question: “Where does all of this sand come from?”

His father, aged and old yet somewhat wise, looked down at the countless sand and—as if seeing it for the first time—smiled back at his little boy. He explained that whenever someone dreams hard enough that the dream actually becomes real—so real that it becomes transformed into a grain of sand.

And whenever a person finally achieves his or her dream, those little grains of sand are swept up by the winds and carried to Heaven where they shine forever as stars in the night’s sky. But the dreams that are lost and never achieved are scattered about by those same winds so that no one—not even God—can ever find them again.

When Mu-saa expressed his sadness that any dream could ever be lost, his father told him that there was a very special reason why all of the lost dreams made throughout the world should find their way to Al Anbar: “We live on a sacred land for whenever a grain of sand is touched by a human tear, those are the dreams that are given a second chance.”

A few days later, Mu-saa’s father died.

Moments before his death, Mu-saa’s father pointed up at the night’s sky and said to his son, “I know that I will never have to worry about you even after I die. For there I see my dream turned into the brightest star: that you are to be a good and honest man.”

And everyday for the rest of his life, Mu-saa would shed a tear.

And his tears would always fall upon the parched sand…

On the endless sand of endless dreams lost.

— Ellis I. Lee
Al Anbar Province, Iraq

——
The first person whom I shared this story with told me that I should become a writer. Since then, I have shared this story with many more. It was originally entitled “Anā Dā’i Ahlām,” but I had the misfortune of learning too late from my Iraqi tutor that it should have more properly been entitled “Ahlām Dha’ea.”

Oh, well…