Fellah

A peasant...
the son of a peasant:
there lies within me
a mother's sincerity
and a fishmomger's guile.
I will not stop
grinding
so long as in
my handmill's throat
a pinch of grain remains -
and I'll plow on
while the sack still holds
seeds my hand might sow.

Taha Muhammad Ali, So What: New and Selected Poems, 1971 - 2005, Cole et alii (trad.), Copper Canyon Press, 2006.