My Father, on Dialysis
By Naomi Shihab Nye
Wrote a book about Palestine called
Does the Land remember me ?
He wrote it in longhand on scraps of paper
as his blood filtered through the big machine
He was not afraid to watch it
circulate
Nurses and aides asked him
What are you doing?
He said, Planting a garden
Of almonds and figs
Dipping sprigs of mint into
glasses of steaming tea
breathing the damp stones
of my old city
pressing my mind into the soul
of an olive tree