Mohammed Darwish’s Reflections on Love
Here are some notable quotes by Mohammed Darwish on the theme of love:
- Speak to her as a flute converses with a trembling string on a violin; as if you both are witnesses to what tomorrow holds for you. Anticipate her, and adorn her night with rings of light. Wait until the night whispers to you that you are the only ones left in existence. Embrace her gently, leading her to your longed-for death, and wait for her.
- My heart is small; yet, my love is immense. It traverses the winds, descends, bursts like a pomegranate, and falls into the depths of almond-shaped eyes. It ascends at dawn, graced by dimples, forgetting the path back home and even its name. My heart is small; yet, my love is vast.
- Simply being together wasn’t enough for us; we lacked the present to see where we are headed as we are—free souls and old friends. Let us journey together down separate roads, and remain kind.
- Show kindness to those you love, for longing after death is unbearable.
- Forcing yourself to forget someone only makes your mind think of them more.
- Your scent is my weakness, and your secret follows me like a snake’s sting. Your hair is a tent colored like autumn winds.
- There is a significant difference between someone who wipes your tears and someone who prevents you from crying.
- Some see love as life, while others perceive it as a lie; both perspectives hold truth: the former has embraced their spirit, while the latter has lost it.
- Your inability to forgive doesn’t imply a cold heart; rather, you’ve patiently endured, giving and offering the best of your sacrifices until you felt enough was enough.
- Those I loved have passed away, yet the almond trees bloom every year as predictably as ever.
Mohammed Darwish’s Perspectives on Homeland
Here are some of Mohammed Darwish’s reflections on homeland:
- We are patriots, like the olive tree, yet we are weary of the image of the daffodil reflected in national anthems.
- Now I have arrived from the relentless red; cleanse yourself, O Damascus, with my hue, so a new dawn can be born in the Arab era.
- I named you a homeland out of ignorance, forgetting that homelands can be seized.
Mohammed Darwish on Poetry
- A poet has no shame in lying, but he only lies in matters of love.
- No tribe has triumphed without a poet, and no poet has succeeded without being defeated by love.
- No matter what we say or write, there will always be feelings in the heart that are too profound to articulate.
Mohammed Darwish on Life
- Do not halt at the beginning of the path if you encounter a rock; it is merely a part of the bridge you will someday construct towards your future.
- I play no role in my life except to declare: When you taught me its melodies, I asked, “Is there more?”
- O present, bear with us for a while, for we are merely travelers weighed down by our shadows.
- They have broken you, how many times did they break you to elevate themselves upon your stature? They divided you, denied you, concealed you, and forged a legion for your hands. They laid you in a stone and told you: “Do not surrender,” then tossed you into a well, and said: “Do not surrender.” And you have prolonged your struggle, O son of my mother, for a thousand years in daylight. They denied you because they only know of rhetoric and retreat. They are now stealing your skin; beware of their features and your scabbard. How solitary you were, O son of my mother, O child of more than one father, how alone you were.
- I am alone in the corners of this white eternity.
- Even sleep evades us when we need it, just like everyone else.
- Loneliness is painful, yet it is far more beautiful than those who only remember you in their vacant moments.
- I do not forget; I merely set things aside.
- I asked: Am I still here? Am I free or imprisoned without realizing it? Is this sea behind the wall truly mine? He replied: You are the prisoner, imprisoned by yourself and your longing. And he who stands before you is not me; I am merely your shadow. So I asked myself: If two shadows meet in the desert, do they share the sand, or do they compete for dominance over the night?
- O flower seller! Plant a yellow blossom in my heart that grows in the mud! This is a time of fear; no one will understand what I am saying.