Pale(st)inian Poem (English) Write Down I Am An Arab - Read by George Abud

Mahmoud Darwish

Write down:
I am an Arab
And my identity card number is fifty thousand
I have eight children
And the ninth will come after the summer
So will you be angry?

Write down:
I am an Arab
Working with fellow laborers at a stone quarry
I have eight children
I get them bread
Clothing and notebooks
Hacked out from the rocks
I do not beg for charity at your door
Nor do I lower myself at the footsteps of your court
So will you be angry?

Write down:
I am an Arab
I am a name without an epithet
Patient in a country
Where everything is enraged
My roots were entrenched before the birth of time
And before the ushering in of the eras
Before the cypresses, and the olive trees
And even before the grass grew

My father comes from a family of plowers
Not from blue-blooded barons
And my grandfather was a farmer
Totally unknown
He taught me about the zenith of the soul
Before teaching me how to read
And my house is a hut
Made of sticks and branches
So, are you satisfied with my status?
I am a name without an epithet

Write down:
I am an Arab
Hair color: coal, eye color: brown
Distinguishing marks: I wear a headband on top of a keffiyeh
My palm is rock-solid and scratches whomever touches it
As to my address: I am from an isolated village, forgotten
Its streets unnamed
And all its men in the field or in the stone quarry
So will you be angry?

Write down:
I am an Arab
You have stolen the orchards of my ancestors
And the land which I cultivated
Along with all my children
And you left nothing for us or my offspring
Except these rocks
So will your government take them away as well
As it has been announced?

In that case,
Write down on the top of the first page:
I do not hate people
And I am not a thief
But if I should starve to death
I am left with nothing but the flesh of my usurper to feed upon
So beware
Beware
Of my hunger
And my anger