More Poetry

Poetry is like my Achilles heal!

In my second approach to analyze the hidden meanings of poetry, I tried a different method from the first. Here is what my Rosetta stone reveals in my attempts to decode this particular poem:

For Mohammed on the Mountain

By: Naomi Shihab Nye

I found this poem to be most interesting considering the fact that she has never met or even spoken to her reclusive uncle. He is somewhat an enigma to the family. Nye takes what little she does know about her uncle and slowly pieces together a puzzle that delicately fits into the context of her own life. Uncle Mohammed is very important to Nye and she feels the need to communicate with him, even if this is the only way. The mysteriousness of her uncle speaks to her at night and asks if she can “See?” in an “I told you so” sort of way. She can see and she can feel all the pain, hurt, and suffering in the world. She can also see why her uncle has made his certain choices. Her uncle represents the roots she has in her native land; she fights to hold on to these roots. He didn’t flee his homeland in 1948 and upon principle, never would. “And when he stirs the thick coffee and grinds the cardamom see you think he feels like an American?” She pleads for her uncle’s understanding and stresses that her father will never lose his Middle Eastern identity. He simply had to seek refuge for the sake of a better future for his family. Her uncle chose a different path and retreated from the entire world; a world that was chaotic and whose principles had been compromised. He retreated to a more simple, devout lifestyle in the mountains. “I have made myself a quiet place in the swirl. I think you would like it,” she tells him. Nye wants her uncle to know that she has managed to live by her own virtuous, wholesome, and pious code; untarnished by the evil and wickedness so easily found in this world. She has learned how to open her heart completely and live life for the right reasons. Just as Mohammed had climbed his own mountain, Nye, and her friends alike, also climb their own respective mountains; seeking refuge to simple and humble lives. She expects that someday, through and because of their core values and principles, they will be united at the end of their journeys.