All poetry is emotional. Palestinian poetry is especially so. Palestinian poets put into words the reality of living under occupation. Bemoaning the loss of their land, they tell their stories with sorrow, pain, and hope. Mahmoud Darwish is well known for this. His poems are a tribute to the Palestinian struggle and resistance. Darwish is considered one of the most important poets of today, and is recognized as a major literary voice for the Palestinian people.
Mahmoud Darwish was born in 1942 in the village of Birwa in the Galilee, in the northern region of what was then Palestine. In 1948, the Darwish family left their hometown after the area was declared part of the new state of Israel, and settled in a town called Dayru I-Assad. Over the ensuing years, he was subject to house arrests and imprisonments for political activism. His poetry is reflective of the struggles he encountered living under occupation during this time. In 1970, Darwish spent one year of study at a university in Moscow, and made the decision to not return to his homeland. He spent the next twenty-six years living in Egypt, Lebanon, Tunisia and Paris and finally returned to his native land for a visit in 1996. His poems are mostly composed of plain words and a simple style. Yet with their simpleness, his words are profoundly felt. The following poem, "A Lover From Palestine", is an example.
A Lover From Palestine
Her eyes are Palestinian
Her name is Palestinian
Her dress and sorrow Palestinian
Her kerchief, her feet and body Palestinian
Her words and silence Palestinian
Her voice Palestinian
Her birth and her death Palestinian
Throughout his poetry, Mahmoud Darwish expresses strong sentiments about his love for his homeland, his pain over the occupation of it, and his undying hope for its return. His intense longing for his home is evident in the following poem "I Am There."
I Am There
I come from there and remember,
I was born like everyone is born, I have a mother
and a house with many windows,
I have brothers, friends and a prison.
I have a wave that sea-gulls snatched away.
I have a view of my own and an extra blade of grass.
I have a moon past the peak of words.
I have the godsent food of birds and an olive tree beyond the kent of time.
I have traversed the land before swords turned bodies into banquets.
