The difference between you and me
Is that you sit cross-legged,
Leisurely savoring your glass of wine
While I wrap myself around myself
As I gulp from the glass of pain at the hospital.
You post the photo of your ninety something mother on Facebook,
Still in her prime.
And I remember the complexions of my seventy something
Mother with all her wrinkles.
You see her every day and place a peck on her cheeks,
Whereas I have seen her only twice in twenty-two years.
I kiss her photo every day in longing.
God bless our mothers!
You follow all football matches.
You laugh, comment, cheer and support this team against that one
While I follow all the agonies of my people in Afrin.
I weep, despond, curse and grieve for what has befallen them.
Your sister has a splendid house in the city center
Whilst my two sisters are vagrants, homeless and vagabonds,
A family from “Ghouta” occupied the house of one,
And a family from “Qalamun” occupied the house of the other.
You sit with your only brother
And debate how to split your father’s vast legacy
While I worry about the affairs of my brothers, exiled and
Fleeing, scattered around the globe.
I have no means to reunite them and to bring them to safety.
Your country is Germany.
My country is Kurdistan.
Two worlds apart…
Germany is flourishing and growing at each moment and every minute
While Kurdistan is slaughtered and murdered at each moment and every second.
Your country is exporting Leopard tanks to kill what breath
Was left in the lungs of my country!
And my compatriots who miraculously survived the killing machine
Are applying in scores for asylum in your country.
You were born with a golden spoon in your mouth,
And I was born with a poisonous challis in my mouth.
This is only a drop of an ocean of differences between you and me.
I shall not go on unfolding the pain that adjoined me as a twin since birth.
Despite the differences you see between us,
I fully understand why you celebrate life.
I never understand why I despair over it!
Hussein Habasch ( born 1948) Kurdistan (Syria) now lives in Germany
Translated by Azad Akkash
Source: Krityah - Poetry in Our Time, Issue 2, December 2022
Is that you sit cross-legged,
Leisurely savoring your glass of wine
While I wrap myself around myself
As I gulp from the glass of pain at the hospital.
You post the photo of your ninety something mother on Facebook,
Still in her prime.
And I remember the complexions of my seventy something
Mother with all her wrinkles.
You see her every day and place a peck on her cheeks,
Whereas I have seen her only twice in twenty-two years.
I kiss her photo every day in longing.
God bless our mothers!
You follow all football matches.
You laugh, comment, cheer and support this team against that one
While I follow all the agonies of my people in Afrin.
I weep, despond, curse and grieve for what has befallen them.
Your sister has a splendid house in the city center
Whilst my two sisters are vagrants, homeless and vagabonds,
A family from “Ghouta” occupied the house of one,
And a family from “Qalamun” occupied the house of the other.
You sit with your only brother
And debate how to split your father’s vast legacy
While I worry about the affairs of my brothers, exiled and
Fleeing, scattered around the globe.
I have no means to reunite them and to bring them to safety.
Your country is Germany.
My country is Kurdistan.
Two worlds apart…
Germany is flourishing and growing at each moment and every minute
While Kurdistan is slaughtered and murdered at each moment and every second.
Your country is exporting Leopard tanks to kill what breath
Was left in the lungs of my country!
And my compatriots who miraculously survived the killing machine
Are applying in scores for asylum in your country.
You were born with a golden spoon in your mouth,
And I was born with a poisonous challis in my mouth.
This is only a drop of an ocean of differences between you and me.
I shall not go on unfolding the pain that adjoined me as a twin since birth.
Despite the differences you see between us,
I fully understand why you celebrate life.
I never understand why I despair over it!
Hussein Habasch ( born 1948) Kurdistan (Syria) now lives in Germany
Translated by Azad Akkash
Source: Krityah - Poetry in Our Time, Issue 2, December 2022
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