Mikha'il Na'ima Poems

So think as if your every thought were to be etched in fire upon the sky for all and everything to see.
For so, in truth, it is.
So speak as if the world entire were but a single ear intent on hearing what you say.
And so, in truth, it is.
...

The roof of my house is of steel; its pillars, of stone ;
then blow, O winds ! moan , O trees !
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The Devil entered my heart, and in it saw an angel.
And in the twinkling of an eye a violent fight broke out between them.
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Scatter! Scatter
O deligh of the eyes!
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Brother, if on the heels of war Western man celebrates his deeds,
Consecrates the memory of the fallen and builds monuments for heroes,
Do not yourself sing for the victors nor rejoice over those trampled by victorious wheels;
Rather kneel as I do, wounded, for the end of our dead.
...