Poem: ‘Requiem for Mohammad Al-Dura’
Mahmoud Darwish, translated by Tania Tamari Nasir and Christopher Millis, 30 November 2000
Nestled in his father’s arms, a bird afraid of the hell above him, Mohammad prays: Father, protect me from flying. My wing is weak against the wind, and the light is black.
Mohammad wants to go home, without a bicycle, without a new shirt. He wants his school desk and his book of grammar. Take me home, father, so I can finish my homework and complete my years slowly, slowly on the...
