18 Feb . 10 Min Read . 2421
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.”