Unfortunately, It Was Paradise: Selected Poems
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"These translations of Mahmoud Darwish's marvelous poems reveal the lifelong development of a major world poet. The book is a gift to other poets and lovers of poetry. It's also an important contribution to current and future discourse on culture and politics."—Adrienne Rich, author of Fox: Poems, 1996-2000 "At this critical moment in world relations, cultural, creative projects feel more necessary than ever. Celebrate this most comprehensive gathering of Mahmoud Darwish's poetry ever translated into English. Darwish is the premier poetic voice of the Palestinian people, and the collaboration between translators Akash and Forché is a fine mingling of extraordinary talents. The style here is quintessential Darwish—lyrical, imagistic, plaintive, haunting, always passionate, and elegant—and never anything less than free—what he would dream for all his people."—Naomi Shihab Nye, author of FuelNew York Times - Adam ShatzAs the Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish has observed, Palestine is a metaphor for the loss of Eden, for the sorrows of dispossession and exile, for the declining power of the Arab world in its dealings with the West. Mr. Darwish, who is widely considered the Palestinian national poet, has developed this metaphor to richly lyrical effect . . . . Like Yehuda Amichai, the Israeli poet he read in Hebrew as a young man, Mr. Darwish has given expression to his people's ordinary longings and desires.
AcknowledgmentsIntroductionI Will Slog over This Road3Another Road in the Road4Were it Up to Me to Begin Again5On This Earth6I Belong There7Addresses for the Soul, outside This Place8Earth Presses against Us9We Journey towards a Home10We Travel Like All People11Athens Airport12I Talk Too Much13We Have the Right to Love Autumn14The Last Train Has Stopped15On the Slope, Higher Than the Sea, They Slept16He Embraces His Murderer17Winds Shift against Us18Neighing on the Slope19Other Barbarians Will Come20They Would Love to See Me Dead21When the Martyrs Go to Sleep22The Night There23We Went to Aden24Another Damascus in Damascus25The Flute Cried26In This Hymn27The Hoopoe31I See My Ghost Coming from Afar55A Cloud in My Hands58The Kindhearted Villagers61The Owl's Night63The Everlasting Indian Fig65The Lute of Ismael67The Strangers' Picnic71The Raven's Ink74Like the Letter "N" in the Qur'an77Ivory Combs79The Death of the Phoenix82Poetic Regulations85Excerpts from the Byzantine Odes of Abu Firas87The Dreamers Pass from One Sky to Another89A Rhyme for the Odes (Mu'allaqat)91Night That Overflows My Body94The Gypsy Woman Has a Tame Sky96We Were without a Present101Sonnet II105The Stranger Finds Himself in the Stranger106The Land of the Stranger, the Serene Land108Inanna's Milk110Who Am I, without Exile?113Lesson from the Kama Sutra115Mural119A Soldier Dreams of White Tulips165As Fate Would Have it169Four Personal Addresses179Glossary183
