Forgiving my father

     As Muslims and Christians we believe God (Allah) created Adam, a prophet, and later Allah created Eve. All Muslims believe the prophet Muhammad was the last prophet in this world. The prophet Muhammad teaches the Muslims everything about how they live in this world. Abu Hurayra reported that the Muhammad Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "Treat women well. Woman was created from a rib. The most crooked part of the rib is the top part. If you try to straighten it, you will break it. If you leave it, it remains crooked. So treat women well." [Agreed upon] The prophet Muhammad says that because Allah created Eve from Adam's rib, men are stronger than women.

         In "forgiving my father,” the poem shows us the life of one family. This family didn't live comfortably because their father did not give them money. The speaker says about her father, “you were the son of a needy father/the father of a needy son"(Line12-13). The father in this poem didn’t spend time with his wife, and that's not fair. “which was nothing. you have already given her/ all you had.”(Line15-16) According to the Islam holy Book (Quran), “O you who believe! You are forbidden to inherit women against their will; and you should not treat them with harshness, that you may take away part of the Mahr [3] you have given them, unless they commit open illegal sexual intercourse; and live with them honourably. If you dislike them, it may be that you dislike a thing and Allâh brings through it a great deal of good" (4:19). The daughter in this poem feels sad because her father did not take care of her and her mother. She was opening her hand to show her husband how she felt. I imagine the mother calling “I’m here, I’m here” to get attention from him: “my mother’s hand opens in her early grave” (Line 6). The mother never receives enough money from her husband and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “The best of you is the one who is best to his wife, and I am the best of you to my wives.” [al-Tirmidhi, 3895]. Every Muslim in this world try’s to follow  what the prophet Muhammad said. 

     Also in this poem, the relationship with her father is painful for the speaker. She had a difficult time forgiving her father: “ there is no more time for you. there will/never be time enough daddy daddy old lecher” (Line 8-9). She forgives him at the end because she has no other option.

To My Dear and Loving Husband

          I believe that the speaker means what she says in this poem because she has the truth about love. She loves her husband so much. She thought there are no women who could love her husband like her:"Compare with me, ye women, if you can"(Line4). I agree that the goal of true love is to be one because our hearts are different. Maybe you can love two persons, but you love for them is not on the same level. The speaker uses many metaphors. She imagines her love like the rivers: "My love is such that rivers cannot quench"(Line7). She says this because the rivers do not stop. Also, anther metaphor that the speaker uses love is like something very expensive. "Thy love is such I can no way repay"(Line 9). She wants to love her husband forever even after the death. "That when we live no more, we may live ever"(Line12). The speaker loves her husband more than gold. She compares her love like gold and gold is so expensive: “I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold"(Line 5). She didn't care if her lover was poor. She did not love him because of money:"Or riches that the East doth hold"(Line6).

Those Winter Sundays

          This poem shows us how the son treats his father. It is common for young children to not appreciate their parents “No one ever thanked him”(Line5). The father is doing the morning chores that made the house warm before others got out of bed. The speaker speaks “indifferently” (Line10). In Islam, Allah urges us to obey parents. According to the Islam holy book “And your Lord has decreed that you worship none but Him, and that you be dutiful to your parents. If one of them or both of them attain old age in your life, say not to them a word of disrespect, nor shout at them but address them in terms of honour… And lower unto them the wing of submission and humility through mercy, and say: ‘My Lord! Bestow on them Your Mercy as they did bring me up when I was young’”(17:23-24). Also, the prophet Muhammad said, “In the happiness of parents lies the happiness of Allah and in their dissatisfaction is Allah’s dissatisfaction."The prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) wants to explain to us how the satisfaction of parents is very important for us as Muslims because if you satisfy you parents, Allah will satisfy you. As well, if your parents are not Muslims, you have to keep in touch with them, respect them, and do not say any thing that could hurt them. According to the Holy book, "But if they (both) strive with you to make you join in worship with Me others that of which you have no knowledge, then obey them not; but behave with them in the world kindly, and follow the path of him who turns to Me in repentance and in obedience. Then to Me will be your return, and I shall tell you what you used to do". (31:15)

       This poem shows us how the son treated his father in the past. The son in the poem said:"What did I know. what did I know/of love's austere and lonely offices?"(Line13-14)  He didn't respect his father when he was young even though his father took care of him. Now, the speaker understands the sacrifice the father made for him after he grew up.

Terminal Resemblance

Terminal Resemblance

              The narrator in this poem shows us how her life with his father was. She misses her father. She didn't see her father for a long time ago. She starts the poem by mentioning that she does the same thing as her father. “When I saw my father for the last time, we both did the same thing"(Line1). Both of them usually said very few words to each other. She didn't have a good relationship with her father, "He'd say a few words. I'd say a few back.”(Line7) I'm wondering about her father. He didn't have any responsibilities for his daughter. In my opinion, anyone who wants to be a father must have responsibilities to his children. Also, the speaker shows us her suffering with her father "My father and I avoided being alone; / we didn't know how to connect to make small talk"(Line11-12). The speaker misses her father because he died. She starts talking about soul after death in lines 26-29. And how were souls taken around at their place. “Not people we knew anymore. New families / families with young children"(Line26-27).

My Papa’s Waltz

My Papa’s Waltz

              This poem shows us how the father dances with his son. He dances with his son violently; "such waltzing was not easy"(Line 4). The father likes to dance with his son, but he dances with him when he drank because the son mentions that he could smell "The whiskey on your breath"(Line 1). The mother in this poem wants her husband to dance with their son, but she didn't want that when her husband drank. "My mother's countenace/Could not unfrown itself" (Line7-8). The boy caught his father's shirt strongly. He was afraid of falling, “Still clinging to your shirt” (Line15). The father dances with his son everywhere in the house even through the kitchen. They were dancing in danger: "We romped until the pans/Slid from the kitchen shelf"(Line 5-6). Finally, the father throws his son on the bed."Then waltzed me off to bed"(Line 14). The boy in the poem shows us how he enjoys dancing with his father, but he is sad because his father drank. Every father in this world should have a responsibility to his children. One of the father's responsibilities is to play with his children, but not play with them when he drinks.