Two poems
Faleeha Hassan
Hypnotizing an Iraqi child
Uh my baby
As soon as you reach the age of eighteen,
you will be in an eddy of the adversity
even if you turn into a scarecrow,
no matter how hard you try
you will not be able to frighten a warplane heading towards you,
that moment you will remember your home that the bomb joked with,
then dispersed it in flaming shards.
You may remember your life,
that once the warning sirens screamed turned into a very valuable piece that death needed so badly to complete its collection.
You may pray
but your voice will be stuck in the shape of your words,
try to smile but you remain completely unable to mitigate the devastation that sweeping you down.
In the war only the skulls will remain calm opening their mouths to the end,
please, please
don’t grow
sleep tight.
My fault
Uh, I’ve forgotten it – the war that has just passed away two moments
Yes, two moments
I forgot to throw stones behind it - as my mom said -
So, it's returned back
With all its death
And
will swallow all of us again.
Poet’s note
In Iraqi mythology, if someone visits you and you do not want him to return to you again, you must throw a stone behind him when he leaves your house so that he does not return to you again.
Uh my baby
As soon as you reach the age of eighteen,
you will be in an eddy of the adversity
even if you turn into a scarecrow,
no matter how hard you try
you will not be able to frighten a warplane heading towards you,
that moment you will remember your home that the bomb joked with,
then dispersed it in flaming shards.
You may remember your life,
that once the warning sirens screamed turned into a very valuable piece that death needed so badly to complete its collection.
You may pray
but your voice will be stuck in the shape of your words,
try to smile but you remain completely unable to mitigate the devastation that sweeping you down.
In the war only the skulls will remain calm opening their mouths to the end,
please, please
don’t grow
sleep tight.
My fault
Uh, I’ve forgotten it – the war that has just passed away two moments
Yes, two moments
I forgot to throw stones behind it - as my mom said -
So, it's returned back
With all its death
And
will swallow all of us again.
Poet’s note
In Iraqi mythology, if someone visits you and you do not want him to return to you again, you must throw a stone behind him when he leaves your house so that he does not return to you again.
Faleeha Hassan is a poet, teacher, editor, born in Iraq. living now in USA. Faleeha is the first woman to write poetry for children in Iraq. She has master’s degree in Arabic literature and published 25 books. Her poems were translated into 20 languages.
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