To My Mother - Mahmoud Darwish

 

dearly i yearn for my mother’s bread

my mother’s coffee

mother’s brushing touch…

 

childhood is raised in me

day upon day in me

and i so cherish life

because if i dead

my mother’s tears would shame me

 

set me, if i retrun one day

as a shawl on your eyelashes

let your hand spread grass out over my bones

christened by your immaculate footstep

as on holy land

fasten us with a lock of hair

 

with thread strung from the back of your dress

i could grow into godhood

commend my spirit into godhood

if i but touch your heart’s deep breadth

 

set me, if ever i retrun

in your oven as fuel to help you cook

on your roof as a clothesline

stretched in your hands

weak without your daily prayers

i can no loner stand

 

i am old

give me back the stars of chilhood

that i may charts the homeward quest

back with the migrant birds

back to your awaiting nest