from the article:
Mothers Arrange Their Aches at Night
Joint pain, high sugar, rheumatic ailments, a boy who missed school because of a cold: mothers feel sadness for mysterious reasons, like sadness over other mothers who stand in public streets holding photos of their sons’ well-groomed faces with sideburns and mustaches, waiting for the cameras to capture them and their chapped hands. Mothers who hold up the house beams, open windows, air out carpets on roofs, expel moths from the hearts of abandoned mattresses in case a visitor arrives. Mothers, who stipulate no conditions for return, arrange their aches at night and wash their daughters’ hair with oil, in bed they toss and turn. And when they fall asleep they snore and give the house a name and a voice.
Translated by Fady Joudah. From You Can Be the Last Leaf (Milkweed Editions, 2022) by Maya Abu Al- Hayyat and Fady Joudah. Copyright © 2022 by Maya Abu Al-Hayyat and Fady Joudah. Reprinted with the permission of Fady Joudah.