Letter from a Syrian child to his mother
Mom, you never told me
that you can die even as you breathe
I believed that to die
it would take a wound,
a crack from which life
could gush out along with the blood …
Mom, you never told me
that you can die playing
among the stones and the dust
of the road that saw me run.
You never told me
you’d greet me from so far away
and that, crying, your soul
would come to claim me.
Mom, you never told me
that you can die breathing in a dream,
that even air can be a poison.
You didn’t tell me
I’d be an angel of glass,
asleep, in a white shroud.
Mom you never told me
death would make me bright and beautiful
sweeping away the fear of bombs.
Mom … however,
yesterday, while I was playing with death
I couldn’t tell you
How fond I am and how much I love you
English language version from the Italian original by the author, Valentina Meloni
Note
22/08/2013 This poem was written after the chemical attack on Ghouta. On September 16, 2013, a UN independent team, in charge of verifying whether chemical weapons had been used in Syria, delivered its final report to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. The 38 page report confirmed that “chemical weapons have been used on a relatively large scale in the conflict by both parties in Syria, even against the civilian population, including children.”
Published in the Italian language anthology “Voci contro la guerra” (Voices Against War) by Onirica Edizioni, as well as in the anthology “Ho conosciuto Gerico” (I Have Known Jericho, an out-of-print, historic 2013 volume by Edizioni Ursini).
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Aleppo’s Children
Aleppo’s children dive
into the open craters made by bombs
the same ones that killed
their siblings, their friends, the very ones
the children of Aleppo play
with the water they no longer have
they joyfully move amid the rubble
and play with abandon
they are children and have to get wet
forget the horrors of war
as they are forgotten by the consciences of others
abandoned in a city of ghosts
the children of Aleppo cry
over their siblings’ corpses they are acquainted
with the desperation of powerlessness
they know the terror of being here now
and then no more. They barely survive,
the children of Aleppo, they are small
people who are older than their parents
more desperate more aware more
defenseless and frailer that’s why they dare
death they want to live, the children
of Aleppo like all children
they want to smile and hold hope in the future
there aren’t children in Aleppo
they are no longer there what remains
is a city of ghosts where the children
bathe in open craters
made by the bombs and they hold hands
while they dive into them, they look deep
into memory’s eyes then silently
say goodbye, they are afraid of disappearing
-into that crater –and see each other no more
2016
Translated from Italian by Pina Piccolo
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Landai – Song for Aleppo in Twelve Couplets
1.
Don’t tell me, I beg you, don’t tell me….
Halab, of all your ghost children.
2.
No one is safe anymore
On your citadel on the hill… Halab!
3.
Look, the children of Aleppo…
They bathe in craters made by the bombs!
4.
Aleppo, the Gray One! Aleppo
Even mountains weep for your fall.
5.
Halab! Halab! My dear Halab!
Where are, please do tell me, all its peoples?
6.
All of its nine gates…
Now, Halab, they all lead to death.
7.
In the garden behind my house
In Aleppo the birds are no longer nesting.
8.
Along the streets of Aleppo
Children all alone roam like ghosts.
9.
Here on the mountains, flowers
No longer spread their fragrance around, Halab!
10.
Aleppo is our city…
But Aleppo will also be our grave!
11.
Your walls are falling, Halab,
And take with them the crying of children…
12.
Are you asleep too, my little girl
In our demolished home, just like your doll?
Translated from Italian by Pina Piccolo
Parts of the poem were published in the book “Aleppo c’è”, (AAVV, Kipple-Aleppo, 2017).
These poems, in their original Italian language, as well as a whole series on Syrian children by Valentina Meloni have appeared here in La Macchina Sognante n. 17.
Valentina Meloni was born in Rome in 1976. She has been writing poetry, essays, aphorisms and short stories for several years. She has published five books of poetry, and two books of illustrated fairy tales. Valentina has also issued several numbered chap-books. Her texts have been translated into English, French, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, Bulgarian and Spanish. Her work has appeared in international blogs, journals and dailies. She is a Voice Ambassador for Poetry Sound Library. Valentina writes for literary and cultural magazines and for her eco-poetry and deep ecology blogs. Contact Valentina Meloni at www.valentinameloni.com
Cover image: Artwork by Irene De Matteis.
