My mother told me "Always speak the truth"

My mother told me: “always speak the truth”

As a little boy, I joined a caravan of camels

To devote my bloom of youth to travel.

While our flock was halfway to Basra;

A band of raiders halted the caravan herd,

Nearer an oasis known as the shazdeh.

They didn't grant the merchant's request to carry on,

And there was rough, tumble and crosstalk.

Later on, some snatchers turn towards me,

I said: "I have got a hundred dinars in my wallet"

But they didn't repress me, they 

merely said,

"Why did you speak the truth? 

wow, I said

With my trembling lips, ''my mother 

Taught me to always speak the truth."

Then the raptors fell to their knees

some ran, 

Some wept, and some followed me, and I said:

"O, make a league with the Lord, please"

They replied, "let's walk to the shade 

Of the palm trees where the light resides"

©Affaq Naibe