EXILED DREAMS

If the sky was not
so high
my mother
would pound down
the cumulus-nimbus
to bring us rain

or the sky
would transport
my pregnant dreams back
to the uncircumcised age

when the only time
I bled
was when I cut
my big toe
on our doorstep

I have seen
the torrential waters
inundate
the homes of my childhood

and wash away
our pride
with debris

I have seen
the feces
behind the panicked crowd
like cattle to slaughter

I have seen
and I hate
this butcher's knife
like the train
that takes me back
to me exiled dreams

          from "Recollections of a Lost Century" by Hamadi Banna

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