almond blossoms and beyond

Mahmoud Darwish (1942 - 2008)
Palestinian poet



"I thought poetry could change everything, could change history and could humanize, and I think that the illusion is very necessary to push poets to be involved and to believe, but now I think that poetry changes only the poet"


The Butterfly's Burden collects work written since Darwish's return to Palestine in 1996. He settled in Ramallah, where he surprised his huge following in the Arab world by writing a book of love, The Stranger’s Bed (1998), singing of love as a private exile, not about exile as a public love. A State of Siege (2002) was his response to the second Intifada, his testament not only to human suffering but to art under duress, art in transmutation.

Poem from "Almond blossoms and beyond"
As you prepare your breakfast, think of others
(do not forget the pigeon's food)
As you wage your wars, think of others
(do not forget those who seek peace)
As you pay your water bill, think of others
(those who are nursed by clouds)
As you return home, to your home, think of others
(do not forget the people of the camps)
As you sleep and count the stars, think of others
(those who have nowhere to sleep)
As you express yourself in metaphor, think of others
(those who have lost the right to speak)
As you think of others far away, think of yourself
(say: if only I were a candle in the dark)

mahmoud darwish



The 47 short lyrics of Don’t Apologise for What You’ve Done (2003) form a transfiguring incarnation or incantation of the poet after the carnage. The Butterfly’s Burden is a translation of these three recent books. This was awarded the Saif Ghobash-Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation in 2008.
Extract from "Why did you leave the horse alone" (2006)

I see my ghost coming from a distance
I look out like a balcony on what I want
I look out on my friends carrying the evening mail
wine and bread
novels and records...


another piece by Mahmoud:

"Sister, there are tears in my throat
and there is fire in my eyes:
I am free.
No more shall I protest at the Sultan's Gate.
All who have died, all who shall die at the Gate of Day
have embraced me, have made of me a weapon."

(from 'Diary of a Palestinian wound')

Naguib Mahfouz (1911- 2006)
He published over 50 novels, over 350 short stories, dozens of movie scripts, and five plays over a 70-year career. Many of his works have been made into foreign films.

works:
Love and the veil
wedding song
The seventh heaven
fountain and tomb

cheers,
M