Mothers’ Hands

After Nuosu mothers die, they are cremated lying on their right side.I heard it’s because after they arrive in the spirit world,they still must use their left hands to spin thread.

She silently falls into sleep, facing rightShe sleeps and becomes a lengthy riversleeps and becomes an unbroken mountain rangeMany people seeher sleeping thereAnd so the mountains’ sons and the mountains’ daughterswalk toward the shore of the invisible seaThere’s a mermaid on the shoreWhen the liquid earth sinksthe silent reef behind her risesAnd now, there’s only an ancient songpulling the purest crescent moon alongShe silently falls into sleep, facing rightin this peaceful breezein the misty rainLet the faint mist envelop herLet the white clouds encircle herWhether in quiet dawnor enchanting duskthey become frozen statuesOnly her left hand is driftingThere must be warmth on its skinThere must be blood in its veins

She silently falls into sleep, facing rightso much like a mermaidso much like a pure crescent moonso much like a silent reefShe sleeps between earth and skyShe sleeps on the heights of death and life

This is why rivers flow beneath her as everThis is why forests grow beneath her as everThis is why stone peaks stand below her as everThis is why my suffering, sweet Peopleare shedding tears and crying out, singing this way

She silently falls into sleep, facing rightEverything on this earth will disappearin the boundless dome of heavenIn memories that do not die,only her left hand is still driftingso gentle, beautiful, and free