O’ my grandfather… I miss my father
To Najaf I turn… ask him to return… I miss my father
* * *
I am Ruqaya O’ Ali your grandaughter
I have no father so help me O’ grandfather
I ask as a daughter who misses her father
Don’t I need a father to be called a daughter?
Alone, so confused… all else I’ve refused
Only him I yearn… ask him to return… I miss my father
* * *
I was taught from birth that Ali brings miracles
Calls your name every tear that from my eye trickles
With your arm raise the Khaybar’s gate of my trials
Return my father and his smiles and cuddles
The gate of Khayber… my grief’s heavier
And its weight it burns… ask him to return… I miss my father
* * *
“Mohammed’s the sun, Ali’s the moon” I was taught
O’ Ali between the day and night I am caught
I wake yearning him, I wake crying and distraught
At night I can’t sleep because he’s my final thought
Cries for me the moon… my days in ruin
From me sorrow learns… ask him to return… I miss my father
* * *
I can’t ask my aunt: tell me where my father went?
Whenever I asked, she’d turn her face and lament
Bring him to me, I don’t need anyone’s consent
I am a daughter who misses her father’s scent
I miss his smiles… I miss his cuddles
Tell them my concern… ask him to return… I miss my father
* * *
Why don’t you answer me, would you turn me away?
I’m still that daughter that beside your grave would play
My skin is pale, from ashes it has turned grey
Ali maybe you don’t recognise me this way?
It’s me, grandfather… give me an answer
Don’t leave me to mourn… ask him to return… I miss my father
* * *
I refuse to let my tongue touch the word “goodbye”
I miss his figure drawn on the lens of my eye
For years your grey beard, Ali, you refused to dye
If I must wait years, from this sorrow let me die
Not another day… take my soul away
A painful pattern… ask him to return… I miss my father
* * *
I slept and I saw my beloved when I slept
I held Hussain’s chest and upon his shirt I wept
He told me, from me, for too long you have been kept
I woke and I screamed, and from my chest my soul lept
Thank you O’ Ali… he came back for me
Gone is my question… ask him to return… I miss my father
* * *
(London – 03/12/13)