THE HANDSTAND | JULY 2007 |
Fedayee Circulars on the
Walls of By: Nizar
Qabani© Translated
By: Adib S. Kawar -1- You shall
not make of our people A people of
Red Indians Because we
are remaining here... In this
land that wears on its wrist a bracelet
of roses This is our
land We lived in
it from the dawn of time And on it
we played... We loved... And wrote poetry... Sprinkled
we are around it gulfs Like sea
weeds Sprinkled
we are in its history In its
Taboun bread... in its olives In its
yellowish wheat Sprinkled
we are in its sentiments Remaining
in its March Remaining
in its April Remaining
like engraving in the wood of crosses And in the
Ten Commandments -2- Dont
get drunk with victory If you kill
Khaled Amr shall
come If you
crush a rose The
fragrance shall prevail -3- Because
Moses hands were amputated And he no
more masters the art of magic Because
Moses stick was broken And he
shall no more be able To split
the waters of the sea
Because
And we are
not Red Indians Exterminated
you shall all be
Over the
deserts of -4- Al-Aqsa
Mosque
A new martyr To the old
account we added it
Fire and
Flames Are nothing
but lanterns illuminating the road
-5- From the
canes of forests Like Jinn
we shall come out for you From parcel
posts
From buss seats
From
cigarette boxes
From
benzene cans From tomb
stones
From chalk
From blackboards From girls
braids
From
crosses' wood From
frankincense thuribles From prayer
shawls From Koran
paper, we shall come to you
From lines
from verses You shall
not escape Mixed With
the wind we are
In water
in
plants Kneaded we
are In colors
In sounds Escape you
shall not
Escape you
shall not
In every
home there is a rifle
From the
bank of the Nile to the bank of the -6- You shall
not rest with us
Every
martyr of ours Falls
thousands of times
-7- Beware
! Beware
!
Lamp posts has nails Death is
waiting for you Tens of
eyes windows have
In every
passing face
Or glance
Or waist Death is
hidden for you
In every
womans comb
And in
every hair wisp
-8- You Clock arms
if they stop They
certainly shall turn again Rapping the
land shall frighten us not Feathers
fell off eagles wings Long thirst
doesnt frighten us Water shall
remain in the hearts of rocks You
defeated the armies
But you shall not Shall not
defeat sentiments
The heads
of trees you cut But roots
prevailed
-9- We advise
you to read What was
written in the psalms We advise
you to carry your Torah And follow
your prophet to the mountain Bread you
have not here
Nor
presence
From every
mosques door From behind
every broken pulpit One night,
Al-Hajjaj Bin yusuf shall emerge And
Al-Mansour shall emerge
Always be
waiting for us
From where
you dont expect us
In every
airport we are
In every
traveling ticket
From In From under
every rock
From behind
statues we shall come
And flower
pots
Our men
shall arrive without a rendezvous Under the
anger of thunder
and rain showers
Wearing the
messengers cloak Or Omars
sword Our women
Our women
carry To the
surface of the moon
. -10- You stole a
homeland
The world
clapped for the hazard
Thousands
of our homes you confiscated
Thousands
of our children you sold
The world
clapped for the agents
Oil you
stolen from churches
Christ you
stole from his home in The world
clapped for the adventure
- -11- Remember
Always
remember That how
mighty It is not
God the great the dear
And that Shall not
stop the birds to fly
The big
could be killed
By a small
rifle in little kids hand
-12- Our
rendezvous shall come with sunset
Our next
rendezvous is in Tel Aviv
Victory
from God
and an imminent conquest
-13- June is not
but a day in time
And the
most beautiful roses are that Grow in the
gardens of sorrow
-14- Sorrow has
young ones that shall grow
Long pain
has young ones that shall grow
For these
you killed in June
young ones
that shall grow
For the
land
For
neighborhoods
0f our
doors
young ones that shall grow
All of them
gathered together for thirty years
In
interrogation rooms
In police
stations
In prisons
Gathered
like tears in eyes
And them
all
In any
Any moment
through all They shall
enter
-15- In his
book God wrote: That from And in its
wilderness you shall
You shall
suffer hunger and thirst
And instead
of God the calf you shall worship
And in Gods
beneficence you shall
ungrateful be
And in the
circulars distributed by our men
We added to
what the all mighty said Two lines
From the
peaks of the Golan you shall be forced out.. And out of
the And here we
are remaining
By the
force of arms you shall be forced out
-16- The one
eyed charlatan shall die And
remaining here we are
Gardens
And orange
aroma
Remaining
while God drew
On the
copybooks of the mountains
Remaining
in our oil presses
And the
weaving machines
In the high
and in the low tides
In sunrise
and sunset
Remaining
in fishing boats
In sea
shells
in sands
Remaining
in love songs And in
resistance poems
Remaining
in poetry
in anthems
Remaining
in the (Dabkeh) and (almawal)
In folk
tales
in proverbs
Remaining
in the white and red kafiehs
In the head
bands
Remaining
in chivalry of the horseman
The salutes
of men to men
Remaining
in soldiers coats
In fighters
wounds In wheat
spikes In the
breathes of the north
Remaining
in the cross
In the
crescent
In students
revolutions
remaining we are
In workers
pickaxes
In
engagement rings
we remain
In babys
cots
In tears
In hopes we
remain
-17- Hundreds of
millions
Angry Arabs
are behind the horizon
Beware
their retaliation
The day out
of the (Qomqom) they jump out
-18- Palestinians
remained for long years knocking doors
Begging for
the bread of justice from the tables of wolves
To God he
complained for his pains
And when
His Horse
he saddled
When he
retrieved and oiled his rifle
Then he
will be
Able to
settle the old account
-19- We are who
draw the maps
Draw
hillsides and plateaus
We are who
shall start the trial
Grant
reward
and impose punishment
-20- Arabs who
were with you
Exporters
of dreams
After June
They changed
to
Mine fields
And And -21- Historys
gardens
always bloom
Our people
woke up
Green
leaves sprang from dry branches
Those about
whom you said
got fossilized
They
changed
Changed
-22- I, the
Palestinian
After the
long journey of forfeiture
Grow like
grass I shall from dissolution
Like
lighting I illuminate your faces
Pour down
like clouds
Come out
every night
From my old
home
from door knobs
From
strawberry leaves
and from ivy shrubs
From the
water fountain
The chatter
of the spout
I from my
fathers voice
From my
mothers kind and attractive face
From black
eyes
and eyelashes I rise
From the
windows of my beloved
and the
letters of my lovers
From the
smell of the soil of my land
I open the
door of my house
Enter it
without hearing the answer
Because I
am the question and the answer
-23- Under
the siege
of hate and grudge
From here
Abu Obaidas army
And Moawieh
from there
Your peace
is torn out
Your homes
circled they are
Like the
home of any whore
-24- Wearing our
black and white kaffiehs
Paint on
your skins the sign of redemption
From the
times womb we shall come
like a
strong fountain
From the
tent of ignominy chewed by the wind
From the
pains of Al-Hussein
From From the
battle of Uhud
From Bader we come
We come to
amend history and things
To
obliterate the letters
From
From the streets with Hebrew... names
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