On This Earth
A litany of small, ordinary reasons to live — bread at dawn, grass on a stone — that ends by naming Palestine as the Lady of Earth and declaring 'I deserve life.'
على هذه الأرض ما يستحق الحياة
We have on this earth what makes life worth living: April’s hesitation, the aroma of bread at dawn, a woman’s point of view about men, the works of Aeschylus, the beginning of love, grass on a stone…
(excerpt, translated by Munir Akash and Carolyn Forché)
About this poem
“On This Earth” comes from Darwish’s 1986 collection Ward Aqall (Fewer Roses). The poem builds its case for life out of modest, sensory things — hesitation, bread, grass — before closing on the Lady of Earth, “mother of all beginnings and ends,” who “was called Palestine,” and the poet’s final declaration: “I deserve life.”
The English translation by Munir Akash and Carolyn Forché appeared in Unfortunately, It Was Paradise: Selected Poems (University of California Press, 2003).