To my mother by Mahmoud Darwish.

To my mother by Mahmood Darwish


TO MY MOTHER
MAHMOUD DARWISH

Aren't Arabs terrified? Aren't Palestinians terrified? Don't Arab and Palestinian women weep when their children die? Doesn’t bombing strengthen their determination?

TONY BENN 1998

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 died
My mother’s tears would shame me.
Set me, if I return one day,
As a shawl on your eyelashes, let your hand
Spread grass out over my bones,
Christened by your immaculate footsteps
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 return,
On your roof as a clothesline stretched in your hands.
Weak without your daily prayers,
I can no longer stand.

I am old
Give me back the stars of childhood
That I may chart the homeward quest
Back with the migrant birds,
Back to your awaiting nest.

Translated by A.Z. Forman.

Mahmoud Darwish (1941-2008) was an award-winning Palestinian author and poet. His literature, particularly his poetry, created a sense of Palestinian identity and was used to resist the occupation of his homeland.
“To My Mother” is one of Darwish’s most famous poems. It was written when the young poet was in an Israeli prison.