Wait til I pack my bag Death
my toothbrush soap after-shave and some clothes
Is the climate warm over there?
Do the seasons change in the eternal whiteness?
Or does the weather stay fixed in autumn or winter?
Will one book be enough to read in non-time?
Or should I take a library?
And what do they talk over there?
vernacular or classical?
__________________________
from MURAL
translated by John Berger & Rema Hammami
Verso, 2024
Mahmoud Darwish was the unofficial laureate of Palestine.
Darwish's poetry is an epic effort to transform the lyrics
of loss into the indefinitely postponed drama of return
EDWARD SAID
