Tell those who inherit their
Rifles—the legacy of our Blood:
From you the Sword—from us the Blood,
From you the Steel & Fire—from us the Flesh—
Soldiers measure the distance between
Being & Nonbeing with a tank’s scope.
And they search us: in our breasts just our Hearts,
In our hearts just our People, in our voices just our
Grief, in our grief just our Cell—and they search
Our cell: only to find Themselves in Chains!
Memory has the fragrance of a
Weeping Night Flower arousing
In the exile’s blood a need to Sing!
In the eternal saga of pain, we are
The Teardrop in the dove’s Cooing …
We write Twenty Lines about love—
And the siege withdraws Twenty Meters—
We give the walls back to the Rocks—
When we Dream Beautiful Dreams—
We Breach all Borders!
Lines from Mahmoud Darwish
Translators include Munir Akash, Ben Bennani, Amira El-Zein, Carolyn Forché Lena Jayyusi, Fady Joudah, and W.S. Merwin