My Mothers Dream

By: Um Sallah el Dinn

My mother told me a story about Beit Hanina

She remembered the days when everything was fine

"I remember when I had to walk to the wells to get fresh water,

Each day it seemed as if the wells got farther and farther."

She went on to say…

"But it was an experience I enjoyed anyway."

"I was able to see the old country each day with a new site,

One day I would see a man yelling at his donkey or a child fly his kite.

I loved seeing the women balancing tabon bread on their heads,

Nothing would make them drop them, not even the dead.

Every Friday we would walk to mosque in our best clothes,

we would listen to the soothing edan with our eyes closed.

My father would take me to the farm to pick fresh tomatoes.

We would eat them under the sun and feel the hot ground on our toes.

My favorite thing about Palestine then was our freedom,

It was heaven on Earth, a day again I wish to come."