The night is arrogant in its possession of the moon
I have the innocent dreams of a sinner
There's a moon of my own
With whom I met by chance
How beautiful is God's mercy
The undeserved deprived of waiting
Maybe I had faught with some past memories
And swore not to make any more
I watch from a distance
Smile for his existence
Let the light in his eyes
Carry my heart
To a future I am powerless to deny

I remember dancing at your wedding
To the sound of gunshots chasing into the sky
The dancefloor hungry for our dabke
Feet pounding in unison
Splitting the Earth open
Outside in the streets
We grew up in
We stamped with hope
But our chained arms around each other's shoulders
Was a wave of grief for the dead
For your father
Abdallah
Everyone loved him so
For your brother Khalid
And his son Saif
It was too early for them to go
At my wedding the line of dancers so short
Our feet battered the ground in accusation
For all the ones it swallowed
I pummeled the unfaithful soil
And on my way home
I hung the swing we played on
Many moons ago

We are like a pomegranate
Sweet sometimes sour
Slow to peel
Thick skins
Hard to digest
We come apart bit by bit
Gently
Lest we squash under the pressure
And all the lovely juice go to waste
There's so many seeds
Of love, care, secrets and doubts
So many fears
Grit between our teeth
Mother we are exotic
And foreign
Expensive yet stubbornly brown in the sun
Refusing to be sold
For price has no meaning
Loyalty does
We colour the ones who are worthy
Bold and bright
The hues of a rose

I know my success chokes in your throat
I know my happiness burns your eyes
I know evil things labelled with love
And people who want my demise
I hear the words you use to disguise
The past you have with me
And how you shove the rewritten version into the world
At an attempt to hide all things vile
You think I have forgotten?
That I believe your lies?
But I let you spin your tale
And choose to keep you nearby
So I can see your traps in front of me
And side step everytime

I'm a thousand miles away
In a country green and bright
But the paths of my mind
Take me back to our streets
Time to time
I kept in touch with many
And I know all the news
I've heard the post office was painted
And Ahmed has retired
His son has accepted his fate
And works in his father's butchers
I heard Saleh's chickens were eaten
The wolf came through the gate
I know Hannan still begs outside the markets
And Ali still sings as he drives his bus
Bilal married Arwa in August
And the caterers caused a fuss
I know that Hamsa street was freshly paved in June
From this country
I miss the clear sight of the moon
I still have many questions
And I long to visit home
Do the police still pick on the poor?
Does Fatima still send lunch to the neighbours every Friday noon?
Do you still struggle to sleep at night?
Does the future still plague your thoughts?
Have you left home in the early hours of the morning
And fallen asleep on the beach with anyone else?
Did you take another to Juju gardens then park on sunset drive?
When they gossiped about me at Khalti's cafe
Did you put a stop to the rumours or let me take all the blame?
I know the ways of our people
The woman is always put to shame
I'm in a land so green and bright
Here everyone is so welcoming and kind
But the stars look so dim at night
And I miss the dusty heat of our country
And it's people too
But more than anything
I miss you