A poem addressed to all daughters, mothers, those about to be married, and those already married...
From my collection "The Migration of Poetry":
15- I am her mother...
I will not sell her,
Do you hear me?!
I am her mother...
I will remove this veil from her face...
So that you may see me in her cheek, in her eye, in her height...
Look all night long at her beauty,
Do you not believe?!
Here, look...
I am her mother...
***
I was my life,
The one who combed her hair...
I am the one who applied kohl to her eyelashes...
Do you know me, do you know her?!
I am her mother...
The day I carried her in my womb with hopes,
And gave birth to her...
I recited Verses of prayer for her...
With my fingers I made a braid
And wove it...
Her small hand in mine
And the letters of love
I read them and wrote them...
I saw the smiles in her eyes
I made them an icon
And drew them...
In the house, her peacock
Spreads its feathers,
My house became a temple
For her beauty...
For your eyes, stranger
I taught her, I raised her, I nurtured her...
As if the world were a rose
From its branch...
And you are the only one who
Owned her heart...
Don't you see her tears flowing
And washing her cheeks?
Didn't you know that her departure
Is her wound?!
I am her mother and I embraced her...
She is the one who sees the wedding It means cutting her off at her root... She is a child still within her mother, and she cherishes her warmth...
It doesn't matter if she is a bird at her wedding, and people sing around her... But you are the one who possesses her magic, her misery, or her fragrance... *** I am her mother... and to you she gives her life! Did you see her going to you, looking back? Did you see how her steps proclaim her fear? She is coming to you with her love, and you are the one who longs for her nakedness... She has become wingless when she leaves her family... Were it not for the laws of the universe, she would not be a prisoner of her truth... Tomorrow the heavens will ask you: Will you protect her? For the sake of Did you seek her hand in marriage?!
Or was she a camel you rode?
Or a sheep you slaughtered?!
I am her mother...
She was a mere embryo in the womb!
Just as you were...
Just as you came...
She is your mother if you protect her...
She is the most beautiful of women if you love her...
She is your shadow on earth,
And you are always her shadow...
Her loyalty remains as long as you keep your promise to her...
So that you may forever be in her depths
Don't believe you are the rider
Or that you will ride her back!
Don't expect her body to tempt her soul...
Be the one who dwells in her consciousness, and in her heart...
Be her companion...
Here is the door I close,
So live the magic of life, with her magic...
She is the trees if you wish to live In her shade...
Dreams are what you need if you want to live by her side...
And be that half that lives with her half... I am her mother...
Do you hear me?!
I am her mother... and I will not sell her...