Darine Houmani

Deep sorrow

Portrait
casts on me the look of a sorrowful man
he is my father
the portrait bends down
to pick up his body
from the hospital bed..

I discover that those inside me
are failing pupils
who have just fallen
into a frightening garage..

A name turning in the dots of the unseen
glowing from within
ending up as a martyr
whose testimony no one in his own country trusts..

A window
looking out on a deep sorrow
my father's grave..

I prepare myself for the decline
inside death..
except for one door
that leads to my children's bedroom..

Fools
climbing salty walls
that is life
the ceiling is harsh
and a little wine was permitted and has become forbidden
the reason is not clear
a spider's web spreading out its limbs
I think I will not find a safe place
on earth..

I wish I were a believer in religion
as they are
for that would certainly make me happy
and I would come back with a single head
and without misery in the morning..