Mikhail Naimy, The Last Twenty Years of His life

Many know that Mikhail Naimy was born in Baskinta, and that he and Baskinta along with Shakhroub are inter-related, but not as many are aware that Naimy passed away in his winter home in Zalka, where he spent the last twenty years of his life with his niece May Najeeb Naimy and her daughter Suha.

October 17, 1889 – the birth date of Mikhail Naimy, in Baskinta

                February 28, 1988, 10: 20 p.m. the death date of Mikhail Naimy, lying on his favorite couch, in his corner of the living room, in his Zalka home, surrounded by family members and loved ones

                The last words of Mikhail Naimy, verbatim, on that February 28, 1988 day, around 11 a.m., were addressed to his niece May, with a steady low voice:

-          “May, light me a cigarette.”

-          “Should you not be eating first ‘Uncoulty’*?” (*the word ‘uncle’ is Arabized as a nick-name to mean ‘my uncle’, with a twist of affection)

-          “Light me a cigarette.”

Consequently, May lit her uncle a cigarette.  He took one puff and returned the cigarette to May.  May stubbed out the cigarette in the ashtray and was hoping for some change to happen, for her beloved uncle to stand strong again, perhaps for some years to wind anti-clockwise. 

A minute later, Mikhail Naimy repeated, “May, light me a cigarette.”

May abided by her uncle’s request.  Again, Naimy puffed once, handed the lit cigarette to May, and retreated to his world of silence.  Seconds passed, and the same action recurred, for the third consecutive time.  Few moments afterwards, Naimy closed his eyes, went into a state of deep sleep, and at 10:20 p.m., he took the last breath from his physical body, only to shine on in an eternal pulse of life, as he concludes his book Najwa’l Ghouroub (Soliloquy to the Sunset) in which he converses with God through prayerful poetic prose.

               “And when the time comes for my sun to set,

                My entire being applauds its arrival,

                And I rest assured that that sunset

                Will be a sunrise” (Naimy, 2000, p. 143).

Throughout his twenty-year stay in Zalka, a multitude of people from all walks of life visited, interviewed, photographed, and filmed Mikhail Naimy in his eighties and his nineties.  However, that span of Naimy’s life is left undocumented by the author himself, as he documented the first seventy years of his life in his autobiography Sab’oun (Seventy). 

In those last twenty years of his life, Naimy published a series of books, among which are Soliloquy to the Sunset (1973), Conversations with the Press (1973), My Christ (1974), and his last book Flashes (1979).

What was Mikhail Naimy’s daily schedule in his Zalka Home, over his last twenty years?

Naimy’s circadian rhythms in his Zalka home were divided to two phases: those of his eighties and the others of his nineties.

In the timeline of Naimy’s eighties, he used to wake up at 8.00 a.m., work-out for around 15 minutes, and shower.  Following the shower, he would have the same breakfast that he had been having for his last fifteen years: one grapefruit that May would cut into two bowl-like halves and four pieces of brown toast topped with a spread of butter and honey. The creative writing process succeeded the breakfast.  Mikhail Naimy would then sit at the dining room table of his Zalka home and produce his words of wisdom, of light, and of love.

When May’s daughter returned home from school, the three (Mikhail, May and Suha) would have their lunch together in the kitchen, at around 3.30 p.m.  After lunch, the time was dedicated to welcome the visitors.  May was the one to schedule the appointments, welcome the guests, prepare the coffee, offer the sweets, and provide an atmosphere of warmth, comfort, and belongingness.  In some free afternoons, Nadeem who is Mikhail Naimy’s nephew, May’s brother, and a professor at AUB would take his uncle Mikhail for recreational drives to scenic green areas.

Mikhail Naimy’s mundane pattern was slightly modified in the last ten years of his life, from the age of ninety until the age of ninety-nine and four months.  He would no longer wake up at around 8 a.m., but rather at around 11 a.m. since his bedtime shifted to hours that passed midnight, the morning exercises stopped being part of the habitual practice, and May would be helping in the quotidian morning shower.  The number of visitors dwindled because that was May’s approach for protecting her uncle.  She refused to take as many appointments in order to conserve her uncle’s energy. 

From about mid-June to early September was the summertime period that Mikhail Naimy, along with May and Suha, spent in Baskinta, in the home he built in 1940, where his nephew Youssef and his family have been living.  In those days, when Youssef returned from his agricultural work in the Baskinta and Shakhroub orchards, he would often take his uncle for late afternoon rides and roam in the beauty of that region, similar to what his brother Nadeem would do in the Zalka Home area.

Mikhail Naimy’s passing to the other realm of being did not deter his Zalka Home doors from opening for all his readers and lovers.  And, after May’s departure on January 15, 2014, the Zalka Home was transformed to a home-museum where the inquisitors would tour its rooms and stop at the major stations of Naimy’s life, particularly those related to the last twenty years that the Zalka Home testifies to.   

Every feature of that Mikhail Naimy Zalka Home episode is still preserved: those disposable tissues that May used to wipe the saliva off her uncle’s mouth when he was on his deathbed, the three cigarettes that Naimy puffed on his last day, the ashtray in which May put out her uncle’s last cigarettes, the detailed items of his personal belongings, just to name a few, all are there. 

Numerous comers to the Zalka Home have commented about that place being a time capsule of another distinct dimension.

First editions of some of Mikhail Naimy’s books, unsent letters, received ones, unpublished manuscripts, unfinished ones, family photos as well as photos of important figures and literary events, obsolete and non-obsolete magazines, and substantially more, constitute the Zalka Home that witnessed the last twenty years of Naimy’s life, a home that encompasses all, in faith, dedication and accuracy. 

The word Mimasuna has been coined and posted above the entrance door of Naimy’s Zalka Home that has moved to Mtayleb since December 15, 2018. ‘Mimasuna’ is the one word that combines its three elements: Mi (Mikhail), Ma (May), Su (Suha), and Na (Naimy). 

The walls of the Mikhail Naimy Zalka Home have changed.  Nevertheless, the furniture that Mikhail Naimy bought and lived with, the utensils he used, the bottles he drank from, and an entirety of a home, all remain there contained by walls that are new but tamed by the timeless photos and paintings of the Zalka home; all remain breathing within a living space that continues to be itself, that ineradicably oozes with Naimy’s presence, mind, and spirit.  

October 17, 1889 – Mikhail Naimy’s birth date to this life

February 28, 1988 – Mikhail Naimy’s birth date to a new form of life

As Mikhail Naimy wrote, “Once I am, always I am.”