Mahmoud Darwish once said
if olive tree remembers its planter
olive oil becomes tears.
Mahmoud Darwish once said
Olive tree remembers
Olive oil becomes tears
If olive tree remembered
Arabic grammar is wrong.
If olive tree remembered
we are readers.
But if olive tree remembers
we wipe olive oil off the bark.
If olive tree remembers
we cry for the planter.
In Arabic grammar
poets are puppeteers
They slide their hands into us
and animate us
in the present tense
So if Mahmoud Darwish mourns Palestine
we mourn
And if Mahmoud Darwish mourned Palestine
we mourn
Tagreed Dargouth: Art&Culture: thenational.ae