The State

A hyena attacks a herd of deer
Their hooves inscribe a thousand branches on the earth

A tree of tracks and shadows, growing fast
There’s no time to think
Which doe to choose

The hyena must decide in haste
Who will live and who will die
She chooses at random

The hyena does not know the deer
There’s no enmity here, no competition
If it were just another day

The hyena might have picked another
Even after the deer is dead
The hyena is incapable of explaining her choice

Yet I believe the hyena is aware
Of the balance of fear

If the herd
Runs, not from her, but towards her
They crush her, bone and all

If only the deer change the direction of their flight I also believe the herd is aware of its abilities

Yet each doe fears she'll be abandoned by her sisters
If she runs at the common foe
So she abandons her sisters
And each doe thinks the same

The deer do not fear the hyena much
They only doubt themselves

Each deer lives and dies alone
Yet, there are moments

When God is kind to the world:
A young deer darts at the hyena without thinking

The rest follow
Like rain
In moments such as these
You feel it being born

A breathing dawn
Or a baby speaking eloquently
In the cradle

I’m not writing an allegory
On Revolution
And the meek empowered

I’m simply stating a scientific fact
The hyena is weaker than her victims
And she’s very much the coward

--- Mourid Barghouti

Translated by Tamim Al-barghouti 

INTERPRETATIONS

A poet sits in a coffee shop, writing.
The old lady
thinks he is writing a letter to his mother,
the young woman
thinks he is writing a letter to his girlfriend,
the child
thinks he is drawing,
the businessman
thinks he is considering a deal,
the tourist
thinks he is writing a postcard,
the employee
thinks he is calculating his debts.
The secret policeman
walks, slowly, towards him.

- Mourid Barghouti

You and I

You’re beautiful like a liberated homeland
I’m exhausted like a colonized one.

You’re sad as a forsaken person, fighting on
I’m agitated as a war near at hand.

You’re desired like the end of a raid
I’m terrified as if I’m searching the debris.

You’re brave like a trainee pilot
I’m as proud as his grandmother may be.

You’re anxious like a patient’s dad,
I’m as calm as his nurse.

You’re as sweet as dew
And to grow, I need you.

We’re both as wild as vengeance
We’re both as gentle as forgiveness.

You’re strong like the court’s pillars
I’m bewildered like I’ve endured prejudice.

And whenever we meet
We talk, without pause, like two lawyers

Defending
The world…

--- Mourid Barghouti (Translator: Dina Al-Mahdy)

Without Mercy

There is a sweet music,
but its sweetness fails to console you.
This is what the days have taught you:
in every long war
there is a soldier, with a distracted face and ordinary teeth,
who sits outside his tent
holding his bright-sounding harmonica
which he has carefully protected from the dust and blood,
and like a bird
uninvolved in the conflict,
he sings to himself
a love song
that does not lie.

For a moment,
he feels embarrassed at what the moonlight might think:
what’s the use of a harmonica in hell?

A shadow approaches,
then more shadows.
His fellow soldiers, one after the other,
join him in his song.
The singer takes the whole regiment with him
to Romeo’s balcony,
and from there,
without thinking,
without mercy,
without doubt,
they will resume the killing!

--- Mourid Barghouti (translation: Radwa Ashour)

Two Poems by Mourid Barghouti

PRISON

Man said:
blessed are the birds in their cages
for they, at least,
know the limits
of their prisons.

SILENCE

Silence said:
truth needs no eloquence,
After the death of the horseman,
the homeward-bound horse
says everything
without saying anything.

--- Mourid Barghouti (translated by Radwa Ashour)