My Mother Was Lying

My mother was lying When my father was wearing a military uniform And went out before sunrise so no one could see him My mom kept smiling for the length of his absence So we didn’t see her choking back tears And when we missed him She told us He is going to return the meaning to our map We thought he was a cartographer And when my father returned without an arm She told us He gave his arm to the homeland And the homeland gave him a medal We didn’t know the meaning of war until we grew up That like plastic bottles The tyrants had recycled our lives during their many war Now I understand why my mom was lying And why when my father returned from war He didn’t recognize his face in the mirror