I Come From There
POETRY FORMAT, 20 Jun 2018
Mahmoud Darwish – TRANSCEND Media Service
I come from there and I have memories
Born as mortals are, I have a mother
And a house with many windows,
I have brothers, friends,
And a prison cell with a cold window.
Mine is the wave, snatched by sea-gulls,
I have my own view,
And an extra blade of grass.
Mine is the moon at the far edge of the words,
And the bounty of birds,
And the immortal olive tree.
I walked this land before the swords
Turned its living body into a laden table.
I come from there. I render the sky unto her mother
When the sky weeps for her mother.
And I weep to make myself known
To a returning cloud.
I learnt all the words worthy of the court of blood
So that I could break the rule.
I learnt all the words and broke them up
To make a single word: Homeland…..
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Mahmoud Darwish was born on 13 Mar 1941 in the village of al-Birwa in the Western Galilee, Palestine. In 1948 his family fled to Lebanon after Israeli forces assaulted and occupied his village.
This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 20 Jun 2018.
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