And We Love Life
International Women’s Day, 2020: Made in Gaza- A hobby turns into a lifeline
And we love life if we find a way to it.
We dance between martyrs, and between martyrs we raise minarets for violets and palm trees.
And we love life if we find a way to it.
We steal threads from silkworms to build us a sky and we fence this departure.
We open the garden gate for jasmines to step out into the streets like a beautiful day.
And we love life if we find a way to it.
We plant, wherever we settle, some fast-growing plants, and wherever we settle we harvest the dead.
We play the lute in colors of the far, faraway, and we draw a neigh in the sands of our path.
We write our names in stone,
O lightning, brighten the night a little
And we love life if we find a way to it…
Poem by Mahmoud DarwichTranslated from Arabic by Fadwa Al Qasem
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