To The Enemy Who Drinks Tea In Our Cottage

High quality art print by 

Yasmeen Abdallah -

For the enemy who drinks tea in our cottage

Mare in the smoke.

And a daughter with two thick eyebrows.

Two brown eyes.

And long hair

Long as night songs on the shoulders.

And her picture doesn’t leave him whenever he comes asking for tea.

And he doesn't tell us about her evening activities

And about A mare who left his songs on top of the hill

In our cottage the enemy rests from the rifle

He leaves it on my grandfather's chair

And he eats off our bread

As does a guest

Taking a little snooze on the wicker seat

The buttons of his jacket shine when he walks away

All the things we needed to say at the door...

He hears it well

And hides it with a quick cough

And tosses it aside.

So Why does he visit the victim every evening?

And knows our sayings like we do,

And repeats our own songs.

Hey stranger say hello to our home,

Our coffee cups are still the same

Do you smell Our fingers on it?

Would you tell your daughter with the braid

And the thick brows she has an absent friend,

That wishes to visit her, not for anything...

But to be in her mirror and see his secret:

How was she following him age in place of him?

Say hello to her if time allows

Mahmoud Darwish