Usman Awang

	Mother's Grave
	We went to mother's grave on a quiet sunlit morning the fragrant lovely frangipani blossoms welcomed us on mother's behalf
	We stood beside the silent grave the wild grass had grown tall the two wood marking on the grave lay dead, rotted by the soil In recollection we saw again the tender love in her eyes and how she lay in her last slumber her hands stiffly clasped Those lips, pure and weary once used to caress my brow even now I feel their tenderness, though far away beneath the soil We erected tombstones for her cleared the tall wild grass then we said a simple prayer and sprinkled rose-water on her grave
	The smiling frangipani bid us farewell as we left the grave to its silence may there be peace upon her soul a poor mortal coming before Allah Whatever we may do to serve her could never repay her gift of birth and her boundless mother's love the pure peak of human nobility.