My Mother’s Pearls

What would it be if I didn't
Do something for my mother?
I'm on it, you know what I'm saying?
Yup, all the mothers, my mother, your mother
Right check this out
Lemme know

There's my mother pounding grain
Sun over her head, it n't rain
Blood in her veins, boiling again
She won't break, pride is her name
She made grit's for breakfast
And convinced us we were rich
Sometimes dinner we'd have skip
She vowed to never ever let us miss
But we were poor had next to nothing
We'd endured the habit's of something
Called injustice like incest is
You just rape is disgusting
And every morning it breaks dawn
She looks up and she breaks down
My pops left, he left town
Wouldn't be so bad if he was around
But when he left, she weren't rest
He made promises he hardly kept
But she kept trying and he kept lying
She found out and she hardly slept
And so it was life in the east
Life in mogadishu life in the streets
Concrete jungle harshest of men
The harshest of 'em could hardly pretend
It was incredible, the strength of this woman
Her prayers dominate the wind and
Guide it to heaven
Her spirit is as vivid as the highest moon
And I was blessed to have
Lived in her pious womb
But what could i say that
Could even near the space
That describes the grace of this
Woman's beautiful majestic ways nothing
That's why whatever i write
Will pale in comparison
And fail in expression
Do you know that my mama lived through
Trauma, hardship, conflict, pain
Struggle in the war
And two of our sons go to school no more
Man, she really is the deepest depth
God only needs smile when you least expect
I can't repay her but at
Least i recognize my eyes
No home to her will which was rock stone
She reminds me of a little poem by
Cheri that i heard one morn'
That talked about a woman:

There is a woman in Somalia
Scraping for bones on the roadside
There's a force stronger than nature
Keeps her will alive (keeps her will alive)
This is how she's dying
Dying to survive (dying to survive)
Don't know what she's made of
I will learn to be like this
She cries (cries) to the heaven above
There's a storm in my heart
She lives a life she didn't choose
(committed to poverty
Heart broken by the times)
And it hurts like brand new shoes
(hurts like brand new shoes
Hurts like brand new shoes)
Hurts like brand new shoes
(and it hurts like brand hew shoes
Hurts like brand new shoes) yes
K'naan, my life is a movie (yeah)
Mix tape volume one