Ode to Gaza by Palestinian Poet Iyad Hayatleh at Edinburgh Rally

My poem To Gaza, at a demonstrations took place throughout the world on Sat 5th June 2010 to protest at Israel's massacre of unarmed humanitarians on an aid flotilla to Gaza in Palestine

To Gaza




To Gaza
I've arrived with what remains of my dream
to spill at your doorsteps
may it grow up with the youngsters into a giant
embroider the courtyards with dew

To Gaza
I've arrived with my papers
and the river of my blood
to further supply my plume with it
inscribing tombstones of martyrs
not dead

To Gaza
I've arrived with tears in my eyes
to pour them in prayers
for healing of grandmothers left alone
May the remains of those
who have long gone
along the path of my aspirations
be my intercessors
and revive me
cease my weeping

To Gaza
I've arrived with the fire of my longing
to the sea I adore
to diffuse my grievance with its splendor
and quench it with the tide of my beloved
to rekindle life in my bones

To Gaza
I've arrived with my spilled blood
to mix it with
the sea of musk
exuding the pleasant fragrance
from the martyrs' paradise
They are not gone
alive they are
with smiles on their shining faces
to this bearing witness

Peace be upon you our beloved
Should you be gone
we have planted your pictures
like primroses, deep in our hearts
we water them with teardrops
guard and pamper them
protecting their open wounds
so they remain masters of the scene

Peace be upon you beloved ones
Peace be to the bird
ahead of daylight
which opened his wings
flying away to the sun
in his blood, love played its tune

Peace be upon you beloved ones
Peace be to the nightingale
whose ablution
was with the purest water
of her happy heart
She flew away
shrouded with jasmines
leaving me
to my poems
speaking against my will
words betraying my tongue

To Gaza
I've arrived
with the well of my depths
for you to dwell in
for you to wander in its tales
for you to lose yourselves in its reflections
and for you to observe how Gaza
has created in me a multitude of GAZAS




Translated by Tessa Ransford & the poet

Category:

Music

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• وطن
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• palestine
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