Thursday, June 03, 2004

From the poem Awaiting the Bird of Thunder by Palestinian poet Samih Al-Qasim (my translation):
"And it happens that he comes
he comes with the sun
a face distorted in the dust
of school curricula
and it happens that he comes
after the suicide of
drought in my voice
something...its splendor
is limitless
something called in songs:
the bird of thunder!
He must come
we have reached it,
we have reached
the summit of death!!"