He Embraces His Murderer

He embraces his murderer. May he win his heart: Do you feel angrier if
I survive?
Brother...My brother! What did I do to make you destroy me?
Two birds fly overhead. Why don't you shoot upward? What do you say?
You grew tired of my embrace and my smell. Aren't you just as tired of the
fear within me?
Then throw your gun in the river! What do you say?
The enemy on the riverbank aims his machine gun at an embrace? Shoot
the enemy!
Thus we avoid the enemy's bullets and keep from falling into sin.
What do you say? You'll kill me so the enemy can go home to our home
and descend again into the law of the jungle?
What did you do with my mother's coffee, with your mother's coffee?
What crime did I commit to make you destroy me?
I will never cease embracing you.

And I will never release you.


Mahmoud Darwish, Palestinian poet (Fewer Roses, 1986)

la muerte

sentí los autos de tus árboles
los semáforos de tu cielo
las rutas de tus colinas
los edificios de tus llanuras
los puentes de tus aguas
la luz ciudadana de tu noche
las usinas de tu aire
las computadoras de tu imaginación
las bombas de tus plegarias
el miedo de tu libertad
el consumismo de tu necesidad
el cianuro de tu ríos
el oro de tu piel
la avaricia de tus corazones
y ahora, qué más puedo sentir
sino la esperanza
de un horizonte
que ya ni veo