arabic poem   

Mahmoud Darwish's "Identity Card"

Record
I am an Arab
And my identity is number fifty thousand
I have eight children
And the nineth is coming after a summer
Will you be angry?

Record
I am an Arab
Employed with fellow workers at a quarry
I have eight children
I get them bread
Garments and books
from the rocks...
I do not supplicate charity at your doors
Nor do I belittle myself at the footsteps of your chamber
So will you be angry?

Record
I am an Arab
I have a name without a title
Patient in a country
Where people are enraged
My roots
Were entrenched before the birth of time
And before the opening of the eras
Before the pines, and the olive trees
And before the grass grew

My father...descends from the family of the plow
Not from a privileged class
And my grandfather...was a former
Neither well-bred, nor well-born!
Teaches me the pride of the sun
Before teaching me how to read
And my house is like a watchman's hut
Made of branches and cane
Are you satisfied with my status?
I have a name without a title!

Record
I am an Arab
You have stole 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...
So will the State take them
As it has been said?

Therefore!
Record on the top of the first page:
I do not hate I
Nor do I encroach
But if I become hungry
The usurper's flesh will be my food
Beware...
Beware...
Of my hunger
And my anger!

usurper- seize without right

supplicate-addressing of requests

entrenched-firmly established and unlikely to change