Only the poor, the workers, the outcasts, the elect
At the dawn of Revolution stay loyal to the wound,
To the truth of Death, to the meaning of the Song.²
If Palestine should be lost while you still live
I’ll say: our people have abandoned the path …³
Through all the Suffering they yearn
For the moment of Reckoning Truth—⁴
They resolutely charge can seize their right—
Who’ve cast out fear and are resolved to Fight—⁵
The chains are weaker than our Forearms!⁶
Now the mirror is clouded for you—
Break it and say: “My Eyes see better!”⁷
I used to be a Wing struggling in the storm—
Then I became the Storm!⁸
Our Superpower:
Retaining Imagination in Worst days:⁹
Spinning a new Sun from the light of our Struggle!¹⁰
¹ Mahmoud Darwish tr. Ben Bennani, The Prison Cell
² ‘Ali al-Khalili tr. Hanan Mikha’il Ashrawi, Dialectics of the Homeland
³ ‘Abd al-Raheem Mahmoud tr. Elmusa & Nye, Call of the Motherland
⁴ Kamal Nasir tr. Elmusa & Nye, Letter to Fadwa
⁵ Hasan al-Buhairi tr. Jabsheh & Heath-Stubbs, The Malady and the Cure
⁶ Tawfiq Zayyad tr. Aida Bamia, Behind Bars
⁷ Taher Riyad tr. M. Jayyusi & Reed, Signs
⁸ Samih al-Qasim tr. Elmusa & Nye, I Do Not Blame You
⁹ Naomi Shihab Nye, Positivism
¹⁰ Taha ‘Abd al-Ghani Mustafa tr. Jabsheh & Nye, Reverse Journey