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Mahmoud Darwish is a widely known and popular Palestinian poet. He was born in Berweh, a village east of Acre, Palestine, in 1942.
When the Israelis occupied his home in 1948, Darwish began to experience many forms of oppression. Early in life, Darwish became politically active through his poetry and involvement in the Israeli Communist Party, Rakah. He spent a period as the editor of Rakah's newspaper, Al-Ittihad (Unity). Darwish's political advocacy brought him a great deal of negative Israeli attention, which included harassment and house arrest. Finally, in 1971, after years of hardship, Darwish left Israel and fled into exile in Beirut, Lebanon. By this time, he had established and upheld an outstanding reputation as one of the leading poets of the resistance. Many of his poems have been converted to music in order to fuel the Palestinian defiance. The Arab population and the international community honor his poetic achievements. Among his accomplishments is the 1969 Lotus Prize and 30 compilations of poetry and prose. His latest publication (1988) is a collection of poetry, Sareer El Ghariba, Bed of a Stranger. Currently, Darwish resides in Paris and is the editor of the Palestinian literary review, Al-Karmel.
Darwish wrote his first poems when he was in the elementary school in the village of Der Al-Asad. He was detained by the Israelis and was put under house arrest several times. He was denied having a higher education. However he managed to go to Moscow in 1970 from where he went to Cairo in 1971. He was the head of The Palestinian Center for Research, editor of Shu'oon Falasteeniyyah (Palestinian Affairs Magazine), head of The General Association of Palestinian Writers and Journalists, editor of Al-Karmil Magazine of the GAPWJ, and lately member of The Executive Committee of the PLO. He resigned from this position in 1993.
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Mahmoud Darwish
Earth Poem
A dull evening in a rundown village
Eyes half asleep
I recall thirty years
And five wars
I swear the future keeps
My ear of corn
And the singer croons
About a fire and some strangers
And the evening is just another evening
And the singer croons
And they asked him:
Why do you sing?
And he answered:
I sing because I sing...
And they searched his chest
But could only find his heart
And they searched his heart
But could only find his people
And they searched his voice
But could only find his grief
And they searched his grief
But could only find his prison
And they searched his prison
But could only see themselves in chains
tr. Abdullah Al-Udhari
Against Forgetting - WW Norton - Twentieth Century Poetry of Witness. 1993
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Other Poems:
Fadwa Tuquan Sharif S Elmusa |
