I stand alone, gazing at the stars
As they may answer a burning question
Where does my son, Ali Akbar lie
As alone I wait for my son’s return
Alone I stand, and alone I ask
Will my son return, will my son return
* * *
Within these tents, only my shadow
Holds onto my heart, and within its hand
I gaze out and no-one comforts me
But an unsure path and the burning sands
And only the stars I have to ask
Will my son return, will my son return
* * *
A heart heavy with my screams and cries
And alone I must bear its weight on me
For this rose was everything to me
My path, my future, the soul within me
I bear this weight and with grief I ask
Will my son return, will my son return
* * *
With his absence, the whispers in me
Tell me your beloved for you does not care
I answer every whisper with hope
I know my absence my beloved can’t bear
And yet the doubt in my heart it asks
Will my son return, will my son return
* * *
A trail and stained with my son’s blood
Taunts this mother’s soul with the hint of death
With every taunt my heart longs to cease
And calls for death to take away my breath
A mother with her son’s absence asks
Will my son return, will my son return
* * *
Beside me sits only my patience
As tonight patience is my only friend
When once my son was my one true friend
And I truly thought, would be till the end
And with this uncertainty I ask
Will my son return, will my son return
* * *
I raise my hands, with tears in my eyes
And my heart it cries, ‘Lord answer this prayer
Like you returned Yusuf to Yaqub
Return my beloved, my Ali Akbar’
And this mother’s womb for him it asks
Will my son return, will my son return
* * *
How can my eyes settle until they,
See the portrait of my beloved’s beauty
How can the weight of my heart’s dark grief
Rest when it abides in this tragedy
And every beat of this heart it asks
Will my son return, will my son return
* * *
(London – 01/11/10)