Mahmoud Darwish

Mahmoud Darwish (13 March 1941 – 9 August 2008) was a Palestinian poet and author who was regarded as the Palestinian national poet. He won numerous awards for his works. Darwish used Palestine as a metaphor for the loss of Eden, birth and resurrection, and the anguish of dispossession and exile.[2][3] He has been described as incarnating and reflecting "the tradition of the political poet in Islam, the man of action whose action is poetry."[4] He also served as an editor for several literary magazines in Palestine.

Quotes

Poems

• When you prepare your breakfast, think upon others
  Do not forget to feed the pigeons.
• When you engage in your wars, think upon others
  Do not forget those who demand peace.
• As you pay your water bill, think upon others
  Who seek sustenance from the clouds, not a tap.
• And when you return home – to your house – think upon others
  Such as those who live in tents.
• When you fall asleep counting planets, think upon others
  Who cannot find a place to sleep.
• And as you search for meaning with fancy metaphors, think upon others
  Who have lost their right to speak.
• And when you think of others, far away, think of yourself
  And say: I am a candle in the darkness.
  • Think upon others, Translation by Hamish Kinnear edinburgharabicinitiative.wordpress.com, aldiwan.net (Arabic)