The Passport

Arabic poetry is something that I have enjoyed all my life. There is something about it that captures a wide range of emotions and puts them into words that take the reader on a journey that is his/her own. I specify Arabic poetry because that is what I grew up with and that's what I cannot, no matter how hard I try, experience with English poetry. Nothing against English poetry but I just don't have the same background or understanding and hence the imagery does not translate well for me. I have always been interested however in trying to translate Arabic poems to English and the below is a rough translation of one of my favorite poems by the famous Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish. I tried to capture the emotions that are expressed in his lines but some might be lost in translation.
As you read this, you want to be in the frame of mind of a Palestinian. Meaning, one whose land has been stolen and now is holding a passport that is supposed to find him a refuge or a home somewhere. I hope the message comes across. Please let me know what you think if you happen to read this:

The passport
They did not recognize me in the shadows that usurped my color in the passport
And my wound to them was a gallery for a tourist who loves to collect pictures
They did not recognize me
Do not leave my palm without a sun
For the trees recognize who I am
And so do all the songs of the rain
Do not leave me pale as the moon
All the songbirds that followed my palm to the doors of the distant airport
All the wheat fields
All the prisons
All the white graveyards
All the borders
All handkerchiefs that waved
All the eyes
They were all with me
But they have dropped them from the passport
Without a name and without belonging?
To a soil that I have raised with my own hands?
Job screamed today filling up the skies
Do not make an example of me twice
Dear sirs, dear prophetic sirs
Do not ask the trees about their names
Do not ask the valleys about their mother
From my forehead a light shines
And from my hand gushes the river's water
Peoples' hearts are my nationality
So please unburden me from this passport

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