My Mother's Tomb Poem by Freeyad Ibrahim

My Mother's Tomb
Poem by: Yahya Al-Samawi

Translated from Arabic by: Freeyad Ibrahim

No gun-carriage had carried her coffin,
Nor a funeral march had been given to her..
My rustic country mother doesn't like to hear
the cannons' thunder.
Not only because it scares the sparrows,
But also
Because it reminds her of the oratorical ‘speeches of the leaders'
Who have destroyed homeland..and displaced me...
Her tomb was carried by a taxicab
Escorted by the eyes of the poor
And of the sparrows
And by plenty of orphans
led by my one- legged brother
And my two widowed sisters!

&

Translated by: Freyad Hugo
(Dutch writer, author, translator, columnist, political analyst, poet)
Heerenveen
October,2021