To Hooriya Darwish

(c) Al sharq al awsat newspaper Below is my own unofficial translation of "To my mother" written by late Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish. You can read about Darwish's death all over the internet, and below is merely a modest effort to honor his memory. To my mother by Mahmoud Darwish I long for my mother's bread, And my mother's coffee, And my mother's touch, And childhood grows in me, One day on the breast of another, And I love my life, because if I die, I would be ashamed from my mother's tears! Take me if I ever come back, A scarf to your head, And cover my bones with grass, Which has been baptized by the sanctity of your soles, And tie me with a lock of your hair, With a thread from your dress, Maybe I would become a deity, A deity, If I touch the depth of your heart, Spill me if I ever come back, As a gas for your oven, And a washing line on top of your house, Because I have lost the will to stand, Without the power of your daily prayer, I have been defeated, Do bring me back the stars of childhood, So that I would share the little birds, The way back... to your waiting nest.