Mahmoud Darwish

Mahmoud Darwish (1942-2008) was a Palestinian poet who was born in al-Barwen, worked as journalist in Haifa, left Israel in 1971 for Lebanon, and left for Paris in 1982. He joined a magazine Al Karmal.

Wisdom & Quotes

• It shall come to pass

That I must search for new songs,
That I must dig in the ruins for new poetry,
That I reject the roses that come from the dictionary;

For roses grow on the arm of the peasant,
In the hand of the worker,
The would of the fighter,
On the face of the rock.
- Akhir al Layl (End of the Night)

• What I've learnt I don't understand

And what I don't understand I grasp it
only when it's too late.

Ghada Samman