The Most Beautiful Words of Mahmoud Darwish
Below are some notable quotes from his poetic and prose writings:
Most Beautiful Prose Quotes
Here are a selection of the finest quotes from Mahmoud Darwish’s prose works:
The Relationship Between Poetry and Prose
- The distance between poetry and prose resembles a leap into the unknown; transitioning from one shore to the other poses the risk of drowning in the depths of life.
- Two different worlds, close yet distant, nonetheless cling to one another out of fear of dying alone or living solitary. Each is a hell and a paradise at the same time; thus it seems to us as we grow comfortable with one while shying away from the other. These worlds exist teetering on the edge of a blade, two separate entities, with a geography laden with dark areas in between, hungry mazes eager to grasp the fallen from either world.
- They are twin adversaries who respect neither the bonds of brotherhood nor the ties of blood. Each is destined to revolve in its own orbit. They are divergent fates—every attempt by one to approach the other ignites animosity between them, triggering a state of intense alert. Their shared principle is a perpetual divorce, each safeguarding its pure, absolute identity. Prose observes the world in its dreary routine.
- Poetry seeks to shuffle the cards and reshuffle them to bring about a transformation in the world’s shape and substance. The former desires a truce, yearning for reconciliation with the world and is incapable of accepting radical upheavals by nature.
What is Homeland?
-What is homeland?
– A map isn’t an answer, and a birth certificate has started to differ. No one confronts this question quite like you do, from now until you die, or repent, or betray. Your conviction isn’t enough; it neither alters nor ignites because the straying is vast. The desert isn’t always larger than the cell.
What is homeland? It’s not a question you answer and then go on with your life and cause. Before and after that, it is your identity, and it seems so simple to say: My homeland… where I was born. When you returned to your birthplace and found nothing, what does that signify? And it is equally simple to say: My homeland is where I will die… But you can die anywhere, and you might die on the border between two places, so what does that signify? Soon, the question will grow more complex.
Why did you emigrate? Why did you emigrate? For twenty years, you have been asking: Why did they emigrate? Emigration does not equate to negating your homeland… Rather, it transforms the matter into a question; do not document it now; when you do, you escape the past, and what is required is for you to account for the past—record only your wounds, document only your estrangement. You are here… here…
Where you were born and where longing leads you to death. What is homeland? You are a part of the whole, and the whole is absent and subject to annihilation. Why do you now fear saying: My homeland is the place where my ancestors lived? Because you reject your enemies’ justification; that is what they say.
Most Beautiful Poetry Quotes
Here are some of the most beautiful poetic quotes by Darwish:
I Long for My Mother’s Bread
I long for my mother’s bread,
And my mother’s coffee,
And my mother’s touch.
The childhood grows within me,
One day on my mother’s chest,
And I love my life because,
If I die,
I would be ashamed of my mother’s tears!
Joy in Something Hidden
Joy in something hidden, I embraced
The morning with the power of song, I walked confidently
With each step I took. A calling beckons me:
Come! It’s like a magical gesture,
As if a dream descended to teach me its secrets,
To be the master of my star at night… relying
On my language. I am my own dream. I am the mother of my mother
In visions, and the father of my father, and my own son.
Joy in something hidden was carrying me
On its stringed instruments. It polishes me
Like a gem of an Eastern princess.
If it doesn’t sing now
This morning, it will never sing.
Give us, O love, your full abundance, so we may engage
In the noble wars of emotions. The climate is suitable,
And the sun sharpens our weapons in the morning.
O love! We have no goal but defeat in your battles… So triumph,
Triumph, and hear your praises from your victims:
Triumph! Well done! And come back to us defeated… and safe!
Joy in something hidden, I walked
Dreaming of a blue poem composed of two lines, of
Two lines… about light-weight joy,
Visible and secret together.
Whoever does not love now
This morning, will never love!