The occupation of Palestine has gone on now for so long now, it has become an analogy in human history. We have seen their struggle for dignity and their right to exist. Despite being occupied and their lands being torn from them, they continue to remind us of their yearning for peace and justice. Mahmoud Darwish, their poet laureate used his poems to express the grave historical injustices imposed on the Palestinian people. His literature, particularly his poetry, created a sense of Palestinian identity and was used to resist the occupation of his homeland.
The Israeli government forced him to live in exile for 26 years after he joined the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) in the 1970’s. During that time, the poet addressed issues of exile, homesickness, and a love and yearning for a home to which he was unable to return.
The poem ‘I come from There ; was written during this period in his life. He compares his state of exile to a “prison cell with a chilly window,” where he longs to be at home with his friends, brothers, and his mother. He found comfort in his writing during those 26 years, and he learned to use it as a form of resistance.
In ‘I come from There,’ however Darwish explains that he has used all the words available to him, and can draw from them only the single most important word: homeland. What Darwish did with his great powerful poetry was make us all witnesses, such was his universal appeal.
I come from There
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,
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 learned the words worthy of the court of blood
So that I could break the rule.
I learned all the words and broke them up
To make a single word:
HOMELAND
Poem Via: Paul Alexander
Africa to Gaza Aid Convoy
http://wwww.facebook.com/africa.to.gaza.aid.convoy
Earlier post on Mahmoud Darwish
http://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.co.uk/2010/01/mahmoud-darwish-poet-of-resistance.html
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