Poetic antotheism celebrates life through Palestine
Introduction:
Aisha Lulu, a Palestinian girl, was five years old before she was kidnapped after suffering severely with malignant disease, and before she saw Palestine completely liberated, and established its independent state. Poetry has always been a victor for just human causes.
Voices from around the world united and contributed poetic texts in honor of the Palestinian child and Palestine through it and through poetry. Palestine glory. Palestine history. Palestine Jerusalem. Palestine eternity. Future Palestine. Palestine poetry. Palestine, which gave birth to prominent poets such as Mahmoud Darwish, Samih al-Qasim, Tawfiq Ziad, Fadwa Toukan, Merid Barghouti, and the list is long.
This poetic anthology dedicated to Palestine, which was edited and translated by the Malaysian poet and translator Siti Ruqaiyah, includes poetic texts of twenty-four poets and poets from around the world, including Malaysia, Croatia, Australia, China, Morocco, Syria, Iraq, the Soviet Union, Bosnia and Palestine, of course. Because Palestine is celebrated, three poetic texts of the great Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish had to adorn this world poetic anthology. In his timeless poem “ID Card”, which is included in this poetic anthology in English and Malay, Mahmoud Darwish says:
IDENTITY CARD- 1964 Write down! I am an Arab And my identity card number is fifty thousand I have eight children And the ninth will come after summer Will you be angry? Write down! I am an Arab Employed with fellow workers at a quarry I have eight children I get them bread Garments and books from the rocks…. I do not supplicate charity at your doors Nor do I belittle myself at the footsteps of your chamber So will you be angry? Write down! I am an Arab I have a name without a title Patient in a country Where people are enraged My roots Were entrenched before the birth of time And before the opening of the eras Before the pines, and the olive trees And before the grass grew My father …descends from the family of the plow Not from a privileged class And my grandfather ….was a farmer Neither well-bred, nor well-born Teaches me the pride of the sun Before teaching me how to read And my house is like a watchman’s hut Made of branches and cane Are you satisfied with my status? I have a name without a title! Write down! I am an Arab You have stolen the orchards of my ancestors And the land which I cultivated Along with my children And you left nothing for us Except for these rocks…. So will the state take them As it has been said?! Therefore! Write down on the top of the first page: I do not hate people Nor do I encroach But if I become hungry The usurpers’s flesh will be my food Beware…. Beware… Of my hunger And my anger!
Some of the poetic texts furnished for this poetic antotheism express with a delicate and sincere sense of the cruelty of the loss of the Palestinian child Aisha Lulu after a bitter experience with the disease, and other poetic texts calling for the rejection of violence and the rejection of war and appealing to humanity to embrace the values of peace, peace and tolerance in order for all to live in harmony, love and happiness.
On the other hand, there are other poems that move towards singing with love, a noble and pure human feeling capable of uniting discordant hearts, strengthening human relations between individuals and groups and strengthening social bonds between all human beings for a better tomorrow for all humanity, whose increase is the lasting joy.
Other poetic texts translate psychological situations and personal experiences that poets weave into an exquisite art form. What all these poems have in common, however, is that they are all dedicated to Palestine. These poetic texts are originally a tribute to the child Lulu and is also a tribute to the great Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, who is absent, but says:
On this earth is worth living: on this earth is the lady of the earth, the beginnings or the ends. It was called Palestine. It became called Palestine. Ma’am: I deserve, because, ma’am, I deserve life.
PRAYERS FOR AISHA LULU BY SITI RUQAIYAH HASHIM Today Aisha Lulu, 5 years old An orphan from Gaza Died alone Ah! The small martyr Nobody from her family Allowed to follow her to hospital in Jerusalem Because that’s the rules Of check points soldiers of Zionist Though Aisha Lulu was fighting for her life From a chronic brain tumor Only an unknown woman Allowed to accompany her For love and compassion of a small orphan Who doesn’t know anything About political game of the mighty and the powerful That’s the pinch of humanity Shown to Aisha Lulu The orphan from Gaza And Aisha Lulu died Crying to the end of her life Oh my! Where is humanity What is humanity Of the Chosen ones? Al Fatihah for Aisha Lulu Maybe death is better for you, my angel. Sarajevo Winter 2019.
BY MOURAD AL KHATIBI
- D. / Doctorate in Literature; Doctoral Program: “Language, Culture and
Society”, Mohammed V University in Rabat. Published two books in English, one on political discourse in translation and the other on feminine characters in Virginia Woolf’s literary works. Published five books of poetry in Arabic, more than six books on literary translation and literary criticism, wrote articles in Arabic and English in many International journals. He translated two collections of Haiku poetry from Arabic into English. Participated in many national and International conferences.
Awards and Grants: In 2017, received Naji Naaman’s International Literary Prize: Creativity prize. In 2012 and 2013, he was awarded English-Arabic Literary Translation Workshops Grant, Doha, Qatar. He writes in English, Arabic, French.
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