For the Egyptian Mother

By RICHARD R. GAPPI
Bulatlat.com

The road is speaking in tongues

and even the crevices of the city whisper;

moaning the pain which the power-hungry leader

has suppressed for years.

When I saw you kissed an anti-riot police,

a branch of tree suddenly spread its wings

and a gentle wind tapped my heart —  

I whose here at the other side of the world. 

How powerful is a mother’s kiss?

Aren’t these the lips which poverty has dried up

while the elite feasted on sumptuous dishes?

Aren’t these the lips which fear and violence have scared

but which are now rekindled like a new dawn?

Aren’t these the lips that sing lullaby

to her sons and daughters who slept with empty stomach?

And now, these lips are our window

to the world where from the depths of Cairo,

we can see and feel that a new life

is unleashing, breathing from your womb,

a new found hope like the first cry of a new born,

a stout rice leaf

protruding, like a laurel, in the foreheads

of buildings amid the city of forest.

This is not the kiss of death but a gentle heart’s caress

with its warmth hugging the humanity within ourselves.  

Even while I’m here at the other side of the world. ? 

– Richard R. Gappi
4:33PM, 31 January 2011
Angono, Rizal, Philippines  

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