Exile means hours and hours trying to recall the colour of my mother’s hair
Gazing at the face of the elderly women passing by
To measure the depth of my mother’s wrinkles
Exile means glancing at the street which is before me
Through a window forever closed in another country
Or every morning stepping onto a road
Which never brings me back home
Exile means sitting eating alone
Besieged by the people hung on a wall
Exile means
Tasting the tea in my mind
taking a spoon into my mouth
In search of my mother’s cooking
Exile means caressing my cold souvenirs
To keep warm the memory of hands frozen in time
Or greeting in my dream
Those that have lost their ways in the distance
Exile means trying to guess the faces of infants who won’t get to know me
Or imagining the burial rites of those who once loved me
Exile means
Owning an ID card without an identity
Owning an address without a home
Owning freedom of speech at the cost of my mother tongue