Thursday 5 July 2012

Mahmoud Darwish (13/3/41 - 9/8/08) - I come from There


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.
The treatment of the Palestinians I believe is a universal crime. 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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