Palestinian Poetry Blogging


Another Damascus in Damascus

Another Damascus in Damascus, an eternal one.
I was unfair to you, friend, when you criticized my migration to a heartbeat
Now its my right, now after my return, to ask you in friendship:
Why did you lean on a dagger to look at me?
Why did you raise up my slopes even higher
so that my horse may fall on me?
I hope to carry you to the gushing spring
of the ode, to the ends of earth. What a beauty you are!
What beauty is Damascus if it were not for my wounds.
So let one half of your friend, join one half of mine.
Let us create a strong and farseeing heart for her, for me, for you.
For another Damascus to mirror my soul in Damascus.

from Fewer Roses (1986) by Mahamoud Darwish

Translated by Munir Akash and Carolyn Forché