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Thursday, April 05, 2007


Two girls

Under Siege, by Mahmoud Darwish a prolific contemporary Palestinian poet. Excerpt:
Here on the slopes of hills, facing the dusk and the cannon of time
Close to the gardens of broken shadows,
We do what prisoners do,
And what the jobless do:
We cultivate hope.

Psalm Three
On the day when my words
were earth...
I was a friend to stalks of wheat.

On the day when my words
were wrath
I was a friend to chains.

On the day when my words
were stones
I was a friend to streams.

On the day when my words
were a rebellion
I was a friend to earthquakes.

On the day when my words
were bitter apples
I was a friend to the optimist.

But when my words became
honey...
flies covered
my lips!...

Translated by Ben Bennani


Read more of his work:

Murdered Houses, excerpt: "In one minute the lifetime of a house is ended. When a house is killed, it is a serial killing, even if the house is empty: a mass grave of all the things once used to give a home to Meaning..."

The Girl / The Scream, excerpt: "...the girl becomes the eternal scream of a breaking news event made obsolete by the planes return / to bomb a house with two windows and a door"

5 more poems here

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