Here We Will Stay

In Lidda, in Ramla, in the Galilee,
we shall remain
like a wall upon your chest,
and in your throat
like a shard of glass,
a cactus thorn, and in your eyes
a sandstorm

We shall remain
a wall upon your chest,
clean dishes in your restaurants,
serve drinks in your bars,
sweep the floors of your kitchens
to snatch a bite for our children
from your blue fangs.

Here we shall stay,
sing our songs,
take to the angry streets,
fill prisons with dignity.

In Lidda, Ramla, in the Galilee,
we shall remain,
guard the shade of the fig
and olive trees,
ferment rebellion in our children
as yeast in the dough.

They Know

But they know that my country
has known a thousand conquerors.

Youth

The cannons are roaring
are ripping the shores of loves
Youth -
before the solid columns of the world have yet born it,
it has been orphaned.

From Tawfik Ziyad's poet book Fighting Words, also published in Palestine-Israel Journal of Politics, Economics and Culture, no. 4, Autumn 1994.