A Mother in a Refugee Camp
No Madonna and Child could touch
Her tenderness for a son
She soon would have to forget...
Of unwashed children with washed-out ribs
And dried-up bottoms waddling in labored steps
Behind blown-empty bellies. Other mothers there
Had long ceased to care, but not this one:
She held a ghost-smile between her teeth,
and in her eyes the memory
Of a mother’s pride...
She had bathed him And rubbed him down with bare palms.
She took from their bundle of possessions
broken comb and combed
The rust-colored hair left on his skull
And then — humming in her eyes — began carefully
[to part it.
In their former life this was perhaps
A little daily act of no consequence
Before his breakfast and school; now she did it
Like putting flowers on a tiny grave.
ACHEBE, C. Collected Poems. New York: Anchor Books, 2004.
O escritor nigeriano Chinua Achebe traz uma reflexão sobre a situação dos refugiados em um cenário pós-guerra civil em seu país. Essa reflexão é construída no poema por meio da representação de uma mãe, explorando a(s)
demonstração de orgulho por não precisar pedir doações.
descrições artísticas detalhadas de uma obra conhecida.
aceitação de um diagnóstico de doença terminal do filho.
consternação ao visitar o túmulo do filho recém-falecido.
impressões sensoriais experimentadas no ambiente.