Oath

  her eyes / vacant from the grey of old age the messages are knots on the strings of a prayer bead / like a tourist / clutching an old guide to a deserted zoo / watering        the rhododendron is her new religion / after her husband’s death in the army / you ask how she feels about the aches on her kneecap / you reminded her of your father’s bad voice / for lullaby / this was how a fight of thousand days / began with a blow / i have admitted to knowing things that will happen tomorrow / and that does not make me god / i know that when today is over / we will not be here to retell the story we love to say / when the media visit our homes at night / of how the safest place to sleep was the graveyard / my mouth is the wrong place to be today / the many fantasies of how tomato tastes on this wet tongue / bloats a child’s stomach / she is the castle and i the gate keeper / watching over her from a binocular / i made the sacrifices that took you years to think over / i face it to the Kaaba / and mutters Allahu Akbar / the ram does not cower at the sight of the knife / i untie the legs and watch it walk into the woods / a red string on its right leg / i told my mother i would not live a day if she dies / it sounded like a promise rather than a plea