Mahmoud Darwish Poems

On a day like this, in a hidden corner
of a church, in full feminine magnificence,
...

Here the birds' journey ends, our journey, the journey of words,
and after us there will be a horizon for the new birds.
...

and the Galilean women were wet
with butterflies and dew,
dancing above chrysanthemum

The two absent ones: you and I
...

I didn't apologize to the well when I passed the well,
I borrowed from the ancient pine tree a cloud
...

We do not need to be reminded:
Mount Carmel is in us
and on our eyelashes the grass of Galilee.
Do not say: If we could run to her like a river.
...

Still there is on thy saucers remains of honey
Kick out the flies so that you can protect the honey
Still there is on their vines clusters of grapes
O, guarders of vines, drive foxes out,
...

In Her Absence I Created Her Image
In her absence I created her image: out of the earthly
the hidden heavenly commences. I am here weighing
the expanse with the Jahili odes ... and absence
is the guide, it is the guide. For each rhyme a tent
is pitched. And for each thing blowing in the wind
a rhyme. Absence teaches me its lesson: If it weren't
for the mirage you wouldn't have been steadfast ...
...

Don't say to me:
Would I were a seller of bread in Algiers
That I might sing with a rebel.
Don't say to me:
...

I remember Elsayyab, screaming uselessly in the Gulf:
'Iraq, Iraq, there's only Iraq…'
...

Horses' neighing at the slope. Downward or upward.
I prepare my portrait for my woman to hang on a wall when I die.
...