The tears of a crowd of very old children   I string them on a white hair   I throw the wet chain into the air   And wish that I had a mother      No sun shines for me   There was no breast that cried milk   There is a tube that sticks in my throat   I have no navel on my stomach, mother      I was not allowed to lick any nipples   And there was no fold to hide in   No one gave me a name   Fathered in haste and without sperm      For the mother who never gave birth to me   I have sworn tonight   I will send her a sickness   And afterwards make her sink in the river, mother      An eel lives in her lungs   On my forehead, a birthmark   Remove it with the kiss of a knife   Even if it causes me to die, mother      An eel lives in her lungs   On my forehead, a birthmark   Remove it with the kiss of a knife   Even if it causes me to bleed to death, mother      Oh, give me strength