Tell me
Tell me
Tell me
Tell me
Eyes crinkle in the corner
Twinkle with the memory
As I continue to tug on your 3aragy
Baba
Tell me
Tell me
Tell me
Gently smiling
I sit at your feet
Your bald head shining
Sun rays bouncing
early sweat rolling
as you let your words
your reminiscences
skip and flutter around me
and you become
so
absorbed
so
elevated
in the recounting
of those days
Baba
Tell me
Tell me
She was right next to me ajooly, from the moment I lay to the moment I rise, she sung such sweet songs to me, engulfed us not only in her joys, but a serenity… at her banks we played, we immersed our brides to keep the evil eye away, we grieved for our dead, and rejoiced our newborns, she possessed, lived, resided within ajooly…
Then the sadness came
a look
a fall to his shoulders
pursing to his lips
uneasiness
an awkwardness
as I lay my hand
Baba
Tell me
They say whenever a guest comes to your home, in their honor you slay whatever you have, be it a goat, a lamb, a chicken, even a pigeon and the day the Egyptian came, all of Sudan had nothing to offer but the people of Halfa they happily slaughtered…
Anguish seizing
Wrinkles deepening
Hands quivering
age that was so graceful on his brow a moment ago
lifted a veil that I refuse to acknowledge
Baba
Will you go back?
The memory that I have in my head, I cannot replace for the reality that I will see beneath that water, the date palms, the banks, the boats, our homes, early fire smoke snaking so high above the sky, those colorful birds that arrived as the seasons changed, grazing herds as us boys dreamed away, procession of the groom would make it’s way, clapping, dancing, we’d celebrate singing in elation, and to look out at a placid lake that snuffed out all that I knew, ajooly how can I exchange my moments of bliss for a watered down grief?
Nubian(Q) 