Anger Smoulders on the
Fringes of a Blocked Horizon²
The Problems of our Lovers remain an
Unfinished Story at an Unfinished Crossing³
Borders are Invented Lines: drawn with Ash
On Maps and sewn into the ground by Bullets⁴
Tell the Guitar player at Jaffa Gate that all the
Houses of the city will Tumble down if he stops⁵
A Black Broad Line – Red Dots fleck its edges⁶
The Sun Crosses Borders without any soldier
Shooting at it, a stray Donkey Grazes across
The Firing Line in Peace, and no one aims⁷
A Tree’s Greenness Crosses all Frontiers⁸
On our Land is a Wall which we would
Like to Convert into a Room – only we
Weren’t granted Building Permission⁹
Imagination crosses over the Wound
To the Frontiers of the Impossible¹⁰
¹ Shahd Safi, The Anatomy of a Sigh
² Fadwa Tuqan tr. Naomi Shihab Nye, Song of Becoming
³ Yusuf Abu Lauz tr. Elmusa & Nye, Trees of Words
⁴ Mosab Abu Toha, Palestine A-Z
⁵ Anton Shammas tr. Ghazoul & Nye, Seven Poems
⁶ Kamal Qaddura tr. M. Jayyusi & Reed, Part of a Wall
⁷ Salem Jubran tr. L. Jayyusi & Nye, Refugee
⁸ Taher Riyad tr. M. Jayyusi & Reed, Signs
⁹ Ahmad Dahbour tr. L. Jayyusi & Reed, Our Country
¹⁰ Waleed Sayf tr. Elmusa & Heath-Stubbs, Death at Night’s End