Monday, May 24, 2004

From a poem by Lebanese poet Khalil Hawi (my translation):
"...their child is born an old bat
where is the one who can
dissolve, revive, and bring back
who can create him a new child
and wash him with oil and sulfur
off stink of rust
where is the one who can
dissolve, revive, and bring back
who can create the fledgling of eagles
from the ancestry of slaves
the child has denounced his father,
his mother
he has no resemblances from them
why is our house being split into two
and the sea runs between old and new
a cry, and the tearing of wombs
and the cutting of veins
how can we stay under one roof
when seas separate us, and a fence
and the desert of cold ashes
and ice."