Palestine Poem by Mahmoud Darwish

This land gives us
all that makes life worth living:
April's blushing advances,
the aroma of bread at dawn,
a woman's haranguing of men,
the poetry of Aeschylus,
love's trembling beginning,
moss on a stone
mothers dancing on a flute's thread
and the invaders' fear of memories.

This land give us
all that makes life worth living:
September's rustling end,
a woman leaving forty behind with her apricots,
an hour of sunlight in prison,
clouds reflecting swarms of insects,
a people's applause for those who laugh at their erasure,
and the tyrant's fear of songs.

This land give us
all that makes life worth living:
Lady Earth, mother of all beginnings and endings,
She was called Palestine
and she is still called Palestine.
My Lady, because you are my Lady, I deserve life.