Anger Smoulders on the
Fringes of a Blocked Horizon²
The Problems of our Lovers remain an
Unfinished Story at an Unfinished Crossing³
Tell the Guitar player at Jaffa Gate – all the
Houses of the city will Tumble down if he stops⁴
A Black Broad Line – Red Dots fleck its edges⁵
The Sun Crosses Borders without any soldier
Shooting at it, a stray Donkey Grazes across
The Firing Line in Peace, and no one aims⁶
A Tree’s Greenness Crosses all Frontiers⁷
On our Land is a Wall which we would
Like to Convert into a Room – only we
Weren’t granted Building Permission⁸
Imagination crosses over the Wound
To the Frontiers of the Impossible⁹
Wide as the Horizon is my Breath¹⁰
¹ Shahd Safi, The Anatomy of a Sigh
² Fadwa Tuqan tr. Naomi Shihab Nye, Song of Becoming
³ Yusuf Abu Lauz tr. Elmusa & Nye, Trees of Words
⁴ Anton Shammas tr. Ghazoul & Nye, Seven Poems
⁵ Kamal Qaddura tr. M. Jayyusi & Reed, Part of a Wall
⁶ Salem Jubran tr. L. Jayyusi & Nye, Refugee
⁷ Taher Riyad tr. M. Jayyusi & Reed, Signs
⁸ Ahmad Dahbour tr. L. Jayyusi & Reed, Our Country
⁹ Waleed Sayf tr. Elmusa & Heath-Stubbs, Death at Night’s End
¹⁰ Tawfiq Zayyad tr. Elmusa & Collom, A Million Suns in My Blood