Venice masks

Thursday 23 February 2012

I Am From There - Mahmoud Darwish

I am from there and I have memories. Like any other
Man I was born. I have a mother,
A house with several windows, friends and brothers.
I have a prison cell's cold window, a wave
Snatched by seagulls, my own view, an extra blade
Of grass, a moon at word's end, a supply
Of birds, and an olive tree that cannot die.
I walked across the land before the crossing
Of swords made a banquet-table of a body.

I come from there, and I return the sky
To its mother when it cries for her, and cry
For a cloud on its return
To recognize me. I have learned
All words befitting of blood's court to break
The rule; I have learned all the words to take
The lexicon apart for one noun's sake,
The compound I must make:
Homeland.

Mahmoud Darwish (1941 - 2008) Palestine
Translated by  A.Z. Foreman

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