– Mahmoud Darwish
You may fasten my chains
Deprive me of my books and tobacco
You may fill my mouth with earth
Poetry will feed my heart, like blood
It is salt to the bread
And liquid to the eye
I will write it with nails,
eye sockets and daggers,
I will recite it in my prison cell –
in the bathroom –
in the stable –
Under the chains –
In spite of my handcuffs
I have a million nightingales
On the branches of my heart
Singing the song of liberation.
[Translation from ‘Our Roots Are Still Alive: the Story of the Palestinian People’. Translation by Ayesha Kidwai, a linguist who teaches at JNU, New Delhi. Mahmoud Darwish (13 March 1942 – 9 August 2008) is considered the national poet of Palestine: he gave voice to the struggles of the Palestinian people. He wrote the declaration of independence issued by the Palestine National Council in 1988. Darwish wrote more than 20 collections of poetry as well as several books of prose. He was also editor of the literary journal Al-Karmel. Among his many international awards were the Lotus Prize (1969), the Lenin Peace Prize (1983), the French medal of Knight of Arts and Belles Letters (1997), and the 2001 Lannan Foundation Prize for Cultural Freedom. Courtesy: Indian Cultural Forum. India Cultural Forum is a group of cultural activists and academics, who see India as part of a rich and plural heritage, and seek to build on this heritage for a more just, egalitarian and humane society.]
