Sunday, September 18, 2005

From the poem A Commentary on What Happened in the Wahdat* Camp by Egyptian poet Amal Dunqul (my translation):

"I had repeatedly told you
that the convoys that pass
in the parades on [Holy Day] of Al-Fitr
and Independence Day
(and women cry out
from windows in astonishment)
do not make victories.
The cannons that mass at the border,
in the desert
do not shoot...except
when they turn around.
The bullet that we pay for...
using the money for bread and medicine:
does not kill the enemies
but it kills us..if we raised
our voices loudly
It kills us, and kills
the children!
I had told you
in a far away year
about the danger
of the soldier
about his blind heart,
about his idle stance
protecting whoever
pays his monthly salary
and his formal uniform
to scare opponents with
empty bombast
But...when death approaches...
in sacrifice for the
broken homeland and doctrine:
he flees the battle scene
and surrounds the sultan
and seizes the throne
and declares "revolution"
from the radio and newspaper!
....
I had told you...
but you...
did not listen to this absurdity
so fire flooded over the camps
and even...corpses flooded!
And tanks and helmets
flooded"

(*Jordanian royal troops committed massacres against Palestinians in the Wihdat refugee camp in Jordan in 1970).