1
Like any Messiah taken unaware by death
I saw my father he was nodding to the palms, surrendered
To his sweet sad songs, was greeting
Happily the doves which settled on his shoulder
Alone no shadow to soften his loneliness
Alone the clouds were praying to him
And I was calling Father! Death is colder than a cup of water on my body, and
Fonder to me than sand
Father the water surrounds me with longing and there is no time to shame the night
With light, and melancholy with memories
2
My father, answering
What is gone is gone
3
Prepare your exiles for the hard years, turn absence
Into silver ribbons through your hair
Push your hands into the pockets of your shirt
Out comes your country
Brimming ashes, fragment-crammed
4
Father the directions have exhausted me
5
My father, saying
What is gone is gone
6
Distance has left me limp, father
Hunger is complete with me
And I am full with all the countries that threw me
A babe into the river
This longing is no great thing to me
Earth switched on me, the skies
Are not the skies
No light to guard me for distance betrays
No wind to bear me for the clouds they age
Between my shadow and me / the butterflies
Enchanted by the poems and the songs
7
My father, saying
What is gone is gone
8
Neither will the butterflies restore childhood to the water
Nor mother tongue loan you its ABC names
Nor dream pack your soul with clouds Nor poetry, nor hopes
9
Like any Messiah taken unaware by death My father
It was not a dream I saw, it was
Reading the secret of drought on the palms
It was too much for poetry but no great thing to death
I was calling to him: Father of wind
Father of water
Father of night
Father of hunger
Father of death
Father of death
Father of death
Surrendered to his sad yearning songs
Greeting the doves
Which settled on his shoulders
Like any Messiah taken unaware by death
My father, saying
Be not afraid. Of mortal flesh is Man
Of mortal flesh is every son
Of Adam
What is gone is gone
“كأي مسيح يداهمه الموت سهواً” © Aisha al-Saifi. By arrangement with the author. Translation © 2019 by Robin Moger. All rights reserved.
