If I didnβt think, Iβd be much happier; if I didnβt have any sex organs, I wouldnβt waver on the brink of nervous emotion and tears all the time.
But would you kindly ponder this question: What would your good do if evil didn’t exist, and what would the earth look like if all the shadows
disappeared? After all, shadows are cast by things and people. Here is the shadow of my sword. But shadows also come from trees and living beings.
Do you want to strip the earth of all trees and living things just because
of your fantasy of enjoying naked light? You’re stupid.
If you are waiting for anything in order to live and love without holding back, then you suffer. Every moment, is the most important moment of your life. No future time is better than now, to let down your guard and love.
The diary in your drawer is not empty because you have nothing to say. It is empty because you do not want to burden the pages with all you have carried till now.
No matter how hard the trees try to hold on to their dying leaves, each one must fall to the merciless ground. At least the leaves put up a fight, which is more than I can say about you.
Mahmoud Darwish, tr. by A.M. El Messeri, from The Palestinian Wedding: A Bilingual Anthology of Contemporary Palestinian Resistance Poetry; βA Lover from Palestineβ
ALT
