Monday, January 05, 2009

State of Siege

From Mahmud Darwish's State of Siege (my translation):
"Standing here. Sitting here. Always here.
Immortals here. And we have one one goal:
To be.
After that, we disagree on everything;
on the shape of the national flag
[You will do well, o my living people, if you choose
the symbol of a simple donkey]
on the words of the new national anthem
[you will do well if you select a song about the marriage of doves]
on the duties of women
[you will do well if you select a woman to head
the security apparatus]
we disagree on the percentages
on the public and the private;
we disagree on everything. We have one goal:
to be...
After that, the individual will find
the space to select the goal."