Henna on Your Hands

Henna on your hands tonight
I pressed my shirt, I brought the cone of sugar
I came anyway, and that is love too

Your mother cried the happy crying
The old drums woke our street
I set the sugar by the almonds
Said the blessing, kept my face
I stood inside the doorway
Just outside the lamplight's reach

I have guarded a door for years
That opens for somebody else

Henna on your hands tonight

Henna on your hands

And did not touch your hand

Henna on your hands tonight
The drums rehearse his name
I sang the loudest song of all
So no one heard me break

Henna on your hands
So no one heard me break

I passed the henna bowl along
And did not touch your hand
Your aunt pushed the bendir at me
"You know the words, start us"
So I started us, and forty voices
Came in under mine
You looked up once across the candles
One look, older than the drums

Henna on your hands

The drums rehearse his name
I sang the loudest song of all
So no one heard me break

Then I saw where the pattern bends
One small crescent, drawn my way
The sign we made when we were ten
You kept me in the henna, habibti
And you gave your hand to him

Henna on your hands tonight
The drums rehearse his name
I sang the loudest song of all
I will not sing it again

I gave the bendir to your aunt
And walked out through the door I guarded