Tawfiq Zayyad

Tawfiq Zayyad Poems

In Lidda, in Ramla, in the Galilee,
we shall remain
like a wall upon your chest,
and in your throat
like a shrad of glass,
a cactus thron,
...

I shall carve my story and the chapters of my tragedy,
I shall carve my sighs
On my grove and on the tombs of my dead;
......I shall carve the number of each deed
...

'I call to you all:
I take your hand and hold it tightly.
...

with my teeth I'll protect
every inch of my homeland
...

It would be a thousand times easier for you
to lead an elephant through the eye of a needle
...

The earth is turning
the wheel of history is turning
...

I never carried a rifle
On my shoulder
Or pulled a trigger.
All I have
...

When they ran over her,
the mulberry tree said:
'Do what you wish,
but remember
...

But they know that my country
has known a thousand conquerors
and they know
that the thousand
...

Tawfiq Zayyad Biography

Tawfiq Ziad (Arabic: توفيق زيّاد‎, Hebrew: תאופיק זיאד‎, also spelt Tawfik Zayyad or Tawfeeq Ziad, 7 May 1929 – 5 July 1994) was a Palestinian politician well known for his "poetry of protest".[1] Born in the Galilee, Ziad studied literature in USSR.[2] After returning home, he was elected mayor of Nazareth on 9 December 1973, as head of Palestine 48 Rakah, a communist party, a victory that is said to have "surprised and alarmed" Israelis.[3] Elected to the Knesset in the 1973 elections on Rakah's list, Ziad was active in pressuring the Israeli government to change its policies towards Arabs - both those inside Israel and in the occupied Palestinian territories. A report he co-authored on Israeli prison conditions and the use of torture on Palestinian inmates was reprinted in the Israeli newspaper Al HaMishmar. It was also submitted to the United Nations by Tawfik Toubi and Ziad after their visit to Al-Far'ah prison on 29 October 1987. It was subsequently quoted from at length in a UN General Assembly report dated 23 December 1987, where it was described as "Perhaps the best evidence of the truth of the reports describing the repugnant inhumane conditions endured by Arab prisoners."[4] Ziad died on 5 July 1994 in a head-on collision in the Jordan Valley on his way back to Nazareth from Jericho after welcoming Yasser Arafat, the chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, back from exile.[5] At the time of his sudden death, he was still Mayor of Nazareth, a member of the Knesset and "a leading Arab legislator". A street is named after him in Shefa-'Amr.)

The Best Poem Of Tawfiq Zayyad

Here We Will Stay

In Lidda, in Ramla, in the Galilee,
we shall remain
like a wall upon your chest,
and in your throat
like a shrad of glass,
a cactus thron,
and in your eyes
a sandstorm.
We shall remain
a wall upon your chest,
clean dishes in your restaurants,
serve drinks in your bars,
sweep the floors of your kitchens
to snatch a bite for our children
from your blue fangs.
Here we shall stay,
sing our songs,
take to the angry streets,
fill prisons with dignity.
In Lidda, in Ramla, in the galilee,
we shall remain,
guard the shade of the fig
and olive trees,
ferment rebellion in our children
as yeast in the dough.

Tawfiq Zayyad Comments

Gazi saiful Islam 15 November 2019

I'm going to translate these poems for new book

0 0 Reply
Christoph Rinneberg 01 April 2019

I'm awaiting your offen for that book, preferably in german. Thanks.

0 0 Reply

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