Remembering Mahmoud Darwish.

I come from there

I come from there
and I have memories
born as mortals are,
I have a mother and a house with many windows,
I have brothers, friends, and a prison cell with a cold window.
mine is the wave, snatched by sea-gulls,
I have my own view,
and an extra blade of grass.
mine is the moon at the far edge of the words
and the bounty of birds and the immortal olive tree.
I walked this land before the swords turned its living body into a laden table.
I come from there.
I render the sky unto her mother when the sky weeps for her mother
and I weep to make myself known to a returning cloud.
I learnt all the words worthy of the court of blood so that I could break the rules.
I learnt all the words and broke them up to make a single word: homeland.....