Mahmoud Darwish

Mahmoud Darwish, a Palestinian poet with accolades, is especially important after the Gaza holocaust.

Thinking of Gaza, thinking of treating people as non-human, thinking about slaughter. Thinking about homes, places where people live. And when they're demolished in order to placate the anger and discomfort of others.

I Come From There

by Mahmoud Darwish


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,
And an extra blade of grass.
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 learnt all the words worthy of the court of blood
So that I could break the rule.
I learnt all the words and broke them up
To make a single word: Homeland.....