The Wounds in our
Suitcases bear our features.²
Our truest reality is expressed in how
We Cross from one place to another.³
My father shows me his Will:
In it, I receive a letter prophesying
A New Exile for me.⁴
What does an immigrant call it
If they have No Home to go back to?⁵
All places of banishment are our Home now—
One place of banishment hands us over to the Next.⁶
We lost our Home to those who care little
Beyond their fantasies for what home means:⁷
We arrive to unfamiliar houses and unaccustomed climates,
Strange beds and unfriendly pillows, windows that open—
Onto an Unexplained World …⁸
Memory has the Fragrance of a
Weeping Night Flower arousing
In the Exile’s blood a need to Sing!⁹
Love has two Rhythms:
The rhythm of Exile and
The rhythm of Origin …¹⁰
¹ Mureed Barghouthy tr. L. Jayyusi & Merwin, I Run Toward You
² Zuhair Abu Shayib tr. M. Jayyusi & Reed, Probabilities
³ Edward Said, Past and Future
⁴ ‘Izziddin al-Manasra tr. M. Jayyusi & Nye, The Inheritance
⁵ George Abraham, Counter-Terrorism
⁶ Haydar Mahmoud tr. Jabsheh & Heath-Stubbs, The Palestinian Ayyub
⁷ Shahd Safi, An Old Key
⁸ Najwa Qa’war Farah tr. Lennox & Ezzy, The Forsaken Olive Trees
⁹ Mahmoud Darwish tr. Akash & Forché, Mural
¹⁰ Khalid Abu Khalid tr. L. Jayyusi & Nye, Prayer to the Tremor