A Number Of Traces
by Mohamad Said Bazzi
(January 16, 2023)
1 /
There you are again,
Slouched
In the comfort of your guilt
And severance
What you had maintained for so long,
You still carry with you
Your mother’s tongue
Ritual sorrows
Sonnets of centuries
The rare sweetness that escapes
From smashed apple seeds
2 /
And there you are still,
Shifting
Your sitting position, and feigning
Comfort
What you can no longer summon
With ease
You somehow still carry with you
Your father’s intensity
Amplified elegies
Assemblies for the exiled
Familiarity in your ears
These sad chantings you attended
For so long
3 /
And again there you are,
Sitting up
Stiff in the back, waiting to leave
Once again
Like so many before,
Times of profound atonement
Evenings of solace
You are still coming back to
It’s been so long, you
Constantly leaving
A thin string
Always kept with you
Your brother's shoulders, straight
And relentless
Among the processions of men
Your sister’s collected
And rare seasoned
Tacit insinuations
Among the huddlings of women
Gatherings for the absent
Seeds of so long
Smashed between molars
Sweetness or solace
Kept with you