Mahmoud Darwish's poem: I am my language

 أنا لغتي poem’s name : I am my language

محمود درويش Poet’s name : Mahmoud Darwish

 listen to the poem

ما دلني أحد علي، أنا الدليل، أنا الدليل.

No one guides me to myself, I am the guide.

إلى بين البحر والصحراء، من لغتي ولدت 

Between the sea and the desert, from my language I was born.

على طريق الهند بين قبيلتين صغيرتين 

On the India path, between two small tribes

عليهما قمر الديانات القديمة، والسلام المستحيل 

Above them the moon of the old religion and the impossible peace

وعليهما أن تحفظا فلك الجوار الفارسي 

And they (the two tribes) should take care of the Persian neighborhood

وهاجس الروم الكبير 

And the big worry of the romans 

ليهبط الزمن الثقيل عن خيمة العربي أكثر، من أنا؟

So the hard time descends more upon the Arab’s tent more. Who am I?

هذا سؤال الآخرين ولا جواب له 

This is the question of others. And there are no answers.

أنا لغتي 

I am my language

أنا ما قلت للكلمات 

I am what I have said to the words

كوني ملتقى جسدي مع الأبدية الصحراء 

Be the meeting of my body with the eternal desert

هذه لغتي 

This is my language

قلائد من نجوم حول أعناق 

Necklaces of stars around necks

الأحبة هاجروا 

My lovers migrated

أخذوا المكان وهاجروا 

They took the place and migrated

أخذوا الزمان وهاجروا 

They took time and migrated

أخذوا روائحهم عن الفخار 

They took their smells from the pottery

والكلأ الشحيح وهاجروا 

And they took their little food and migrated

أخذوا الكلام وهاجر القلب القتيل

They took the words and the killed heart migrated

An explanation of this piece from the arabic poems :

This is one of the most famous Arabic poems, written by one of the most important Arabic poets in the modern era Mahmoud Darwish. The poem points to the importance of language in creating identity. There is a challenging tone throughout the poem like: 

“No one guides me to myself; I am the guide.”

 There is a sad tendency in other parts: 

My lovers migrated”"

“They took the place and migrated”

Darwish succeeded in explaining the conditions that affected his life, he talked about the effect of India and Roma…etc and the most important issue in his life: “the impossible peace”. There is a significant worry in this poem, the worry of the identity. He repeats the questions in different ways: 

“Who am I?”, so does the poet manage to answer this big question? The answer is that writing is an old way that had been used to express the identity. This is a continuous process. The words help in some occasions but the reality needs more than the words to be expressed in some occasions. 

Mahmoud Darwish, the poet of this poem was a well known Arabic poet who had a big effect on the modern Arabic literature. He lost his homeland early so his sadness created his poems.  He was born in mar 1941 and passed away in august 2008.. His life was an example of defending the noble meanings and the right cases. 





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