Silence for Gaza
by Mahmoud Darwish [excerpt]
Gaza not the most beautiful of cities it is
Its shore not bluer than these of other Arab cities they are
And its oranges are not the most beautiful on the Mediterranean
And Gaza is not the richest of cities
And it is not the most progressive among cities
But it is equal to a nation’s history
Because it is the ugliest in the enemy’s eyes
Poorer, more miserable and most ferocious
Because it is the savage lesson for the enemy
Because it is the most able to disturb the enemy
Because it is their nightmare
Because booby trapped are its oranges
And because this is what it is
It is the most beautiful
Clearest
Richest
And most worthy of love
Injustice we do Gaza when
A legend we make of her
But hate her when we discover that
It is nothing but small, poor
And she resists
Gaza no horses it has
Or airplanes
Nor a magic stick
And also offices in capitals
Gaza liberates Itself from our
Characteristics
Language
And instincts all at the same time
And when through a – dream – we meet her
If she does recognize us
Because Gaza of fire it was born
And we for waiting
And for crying for lost homes we were born
But Gaza’s secret is not a puzzle
Her resistance is popular
United and knows what it wants
The enemy from her clothes
She wants to expel
With the masses Gaza’s resistance is
The skin with flesh and bones
Resistance in Gaza is not a paid for job
Nor an establishment Gaza’s resistance is
Any body’s guardianship she refuses
Its fate is not subjected to a thump print
or anybody’s signature
Gaza’s beauty is that our voices she doesn’t hear
Nothing bothers her
Nothing turns away her fist
From the enemy’s face
No disagreement on the form of Palestine’s government
That we shall establish on the moon’s eastern cheek
Or the western cheek of Mars when discovered it is
It is busy with rejection
Hunger with rejection
Thirst with rejection
Diaspora with rejection
Torture with rejection
Siege with rejection
Death with rejection
And rejection with rejection
In Gaza the enemy could be victorious
and the sea’s high waves could be victorious
Her bones they could break
Tanks they could plant in its children’s chests
and women’s bellies
And into the sea
Sand and blood But
But never lies she repeats or
say yes to invaders
Exploding she shall continue
It is neither death nor suicide
It is Gaza’s style in declaring her worthiness of life
And exploding she shall continue
It is Gaza’s style in declaring her worthiness of life
Translated by: Adib S. Kawar
Palestinian Mahmoud Darwish was born in al-Birwa in Galilee, a village that was eventually occupied and later razed by the Israeli army. Because they had missed the official Israeli census, Darwish and his family were considered “internal refugees” or “present-absent aliens.” Darwish lived for many years in exile in Beirut and Paris. He is the author of over 30 books of poetry and eight books of prose, and earned the Lannan Cultural Freedom Prize from the Lannan Foundation, the Lenin Peace Prize, and the Knight of Arts and Belles Lettres Medal from France.
In the 1960s Darwish was imprisoned for reciting poetry and traveling between villages without a permit. Considered a “resistance poet,” he was placed under house arrest when his poem “Identity Card” was turned into a protest song. After spending a year at University of Moscow in 1970, Darwish worked at the newspaper Al-Ahram in Cairo. He subsequently lived in Beirut, where he edited the journal Palestinian Affairs from 1973 to 1982. In 1981 he founded and edited the journal Al-Karmel. Darwish served from 1987 to 1993 on the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization. In 1996 he was permitted to return from exile to visit friends and family in Israel and Palestine.
Darwish died in 2008 in Houston TX
