I seek a safe place
For my mother’s scent
And I hide the rose in my blood.
Silently
My mother came to me in sleep.
She kissed my forehead
And placed salt under the pillow.
Electrocuted sky.
And the ground is sprouting
With the martyr’s blood.
I see my mother’s face.
I saw it on the train that passed today
Loaded with the dead.
***
The four seasons
Roses side by side .
They do not speak to each other .
And these seasons alternate over my body,
They do not speak to each other
And they do not speak to me .
And I am here without a voice
Speaking to all things
And not speaking to myself .
Translation: Khaled Mattawa
From: A little life