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by Meral Alizada
Mehmannavaz,
I morph into my bubble, ‘to each their own’,
I leap to catch my tongue but my tongue colonised, slips out.
Ashamed, I drip through the gaps
Finally, come clean.
Your smile catches rays, you say,
Let my back be your bridge from one stream to the next.
Mehmnanavaz,
That glass of yours dangerously close to its bottom and our hands, the size of two skies
Mehmannavaz,
If I ask of your heart, will it tremble, will it be tormented, tell me,
What talks of the world
Moves comfortably in you?
Only that I will speak,
I will not edge further from the line you draw
Mehmannavaz,
you don’t let yourself into their coveted space,
You bow, your hand at your heart,
Locate the space near and far from you and tell me
Our daughter,
Your shadow,
Is your own.
Mehmannavaz,
your hands tremble,
Your sickle knows the small ripples, the nooks of every sun’s day.
Yet the long table is laced with a plump vivaciousness,
A voluptuous youth that dangles from pomegranates,
Grapes, honey-melon,
That outlasts the pace you now walk.
I hover and see,
Your vest pulled together by masterful dutiful hands,
A painful glint of purity marks your eyes,
You have looked to the heavens more in a moment,
Than I, a lifetime.
I point at a makeshift coaster and smile, my throat catching.
At once, you break in your bow
And cup my palm with its immediate warmth,
It is yours.
About this poem
This is a poem that celebrates the tradition, the value of Mehmannavazi: loosely and unsatisfactorily translated as hospitality. But my understanding of it is it is the ancient Afghan tradition of nurturing, pouring affection, anticipatory attentiveness, generosity and deep surrender to the caretaking of guests, travellers, anyone who so walks in the direction of where you eat.
Mehmannavazi forms a significant inspiration of my organisation: Results of Kindness, that seeks to implement organisational kindness at the heart of global workplaces to generate sustainable and exponential productivity; profitability and incomparable competitive-advantage.