Mahmoud Darwish

Write down!
I am an Arab
You have stolen the orchards of my ancestors
And the land which I cultivated
Along with my children
And you left nothing for us
Except for these rocks…

Yesterday, I read these few of his lines in this Economist article and am already his fan. I want to read more of his prose – in English, if not in the original language (assuming Arabic would have quite a bit overlap with our Urdu).

One more sample (describes Palestinians and Israelis as two men trapped in a hole):

He said: Will you bargain with me now?
I said: For what would you bargain
In this grave?
He said: Over my share and your share of this common grave
I said: Of what use is that?
Time has passed us by,
Our fate is an exception to the rule
Here lie a killer and the killed, asleep in one hole
And it remains for another poet to write the end of the script.

A little more about the man here and here.

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