Remain the Sea (Anoushka Shankar)

Mother swallows golden sand
Whispers: She’s taking back what’s hers
Her feet are two split continents
Her heart is the map of the world

Lay with me though my storm, she says
Be the moon to my sea
I ask her:
But where does the heart go
When it’s taken from the motherland?

I’m like the sky, pregnant with life
I’m searching for a safe place
To empty

Mother crashes her body against the shore
Says: Pain is what we carry upon our backs
Love is being silent about the weight

The death of the motherland
Is not in what we leave behind, she says
But in everything we forget

And you’re not so privileged
You are a child of fire and water
The strength to be the storm
And to carry it is within you

So storm, she says
And I will carry your every drop

The body is a continent
But may your heart
Always remain the sea