Sea Prayer

Memories are subjective testimony. As the narrator struggles to document and process the contrasting memories he and his son share, the failures of memory cannot be ignored. Because the narrator is unable to share his memories fully, he is isolated from sharing his grief.

When the story starts, the narrator focuses on full compositions of the landscape paired with specific details from his childhood home outside of Homs. The greenery and bold brushstrokes are vivid without being realistic. The shadows and outlines provide the impression or the feeling of the space without committing to concrete details. The text follows this same pattern by focusing on unseen and unnamed family members, only providing descriptions for the domestic memories that surround the farmhouse. It conveys senses without being clear. For example, the narrator remembers the “bleating of your grandmother’s goat” (9), which translates well into imagining this place but not for learning about the people. More senses are invoked throughout the story. The narrator wishes that Marwan could remember for himself “the crowded lanes smelling of fried kibbeh / and the evening walks we took / with your mother / around Clock Tower Square” (17). More emphasis is placed on the physical location than on details unique to the narrator’s family.