I used to be a Wing struggling in
The Storm, then I Became the Storm²
Now the Mirror is Clouded for you –
Break it and say: “My Eyes see Better”³
The Chains are Weaker than our Forearms⁴
They resolutely charge can Seize their Right –
Who’ve cast out Fear and are resolved to Fight⁵
Spinning a New Sun from the light of our Struggle⁶
Only the Poor, the Workers, the Outcasts, the Elect
At the dawn of Revolution stay loyal to the Wound,
To the Truth of Death, to the Meaning of the Song⁷
If Palestine should be Lost while you still Live
I’ll say: our People have Abandoned the path⁸
Through all the Suffering they yearn
For the moment of Reckoning Truth⁹
Our Superpower: Retaining
Imagination in Worst days¹⁰
¹ Mahmoud Darwish tr. Ben Bennani, The Prison Cell
² Samih al-Qasim tr. Elmusa & Nye, I Do Not Blame You
³ Taher Riyad tr. M. Jayyusi & Reed, Signs
⁴ Tawfiq Zayyad tr. Aida Bamia, Behind Bars
⁵ Hasan al-Buhairi tr. Jabsheh & Heath-Stubbs, The Malady and the Cure
⁶ Taha ‘Abd al-Ghani Mustafa tr. Jabsheh & Nye, Reverse Journey
⁷ ‘Ali al-Khalili tr. Hanan Mikha’il Ashrawi, Dialectics of the Homeland
⁸ ‘Abd al-Raheem Mahmoud tr. Elmusa & Nye, Call of the Motherland
⁹ Kamal Nasir tr. Elmusa & Nye, Letter to Fadwa
¹⁰ Naomi Shihab Nye, Positivism