Ra-ta-tat: A Lesson from the Kitchen

05/27/2008

Ra-ta-tat: A Lesson from the Kitchen

I have realized that even the most ordinary thing
Can be the real one that teaches and make us think
It's not just 'bout attending lectures or going to school
I have found out my kitchen is a place so cool

Just cooking dinner yesterday taught me a lot
Hearing the oil warm up and boil ra-ta-tat-tat
The oil like a rifle shot out from the cooking pot
Reminding me of Sohrab and his slingshot

I burned my hands while by reflex I covered my eyes
I thought 'bout mama getting up before sunrise
Her songs in the kitchen would mix with the birds' at dawn
And by the time I woke up she had everything done

I would eat breakfast, lunch, dinner and any kinda homemade
Without thinking how all that before me came to be made
It's only now that in my kitchen as I have no choice
That I can hear that silent yet loud and familiar voice

Echoing in the oil that boils and talking to me
Not through the verbal but in real things I can see
Thus I came to make sense of the kitchen code
Understanding then the hardships of mom's heavy load

Oil alone on the fire can be so harmful sometime
Yet despite the threat in the Kitchen that could hit anytime
Mom always had and still have that smile on her face
And about all her hardships nothing came to surface

Here is a lesson I would never learn in college
It's the lesson that forces me to acknowledge
The daily sacrifice of a mom for her offspring
So, every day, in my kitchen, my love to mom I sing...