The Jordanian blogosphere has been mourning the great Palestinian poet, Mahmoud Darwish, who passed away from complications due to open-heart surgery at the age of 67 this week. For Jordanians, Darwish was more than just a master of words. He is perceived as an ambassador and champion of the Palestinian cause; articulating the sentiment on the street in the most poetic renderings.
Blogger Ammar Sajdi described Darwish as “A poet who leaves an eternal legacy of legendary master pieces that simply pierced through ears, the minds and the hearts of the masses”
Amjad described the unfortunate event as a “A true sad day for the whole nation”, while Mais wonders “who will continue to document the bleeding Palestinian wound?” (Arabic)
Tololy posts “State of Siege”, a classic Darwish poem, declaring: “How do you mourn a poet?
You don’t. You mourn the world without him.”
Most Jordanian bloggers have chosen to mourn Darwish by posting various pieces of his poetry in both Arabic and English, for all to read, eulogizing the famous poet with his very own words.
Asoom is forced to recall her college Arabic professor who opened her eyes to the works poetry of Mahmoud Darwish, while Iman recalls attending what would become his final poetry reading in Ramallah’s Cultural Palace back in June.
Photo of Mahmoud Darwish from Wikimedia Commons
Also on Global Voices Online:
Arabeyes: Mourning for Mahmoud Darwish
4 comments
Thank you for the roundup
To you Mahmoud:
He had his words tied in a ribbon;
they came to his life
and cut the wrapping.
Words were left
on the sidewalk of destiny;
swept by the bustling wind
like autumn leaves.
For what he said
in what he believed,
was an agony,
but he was too strong in his afflictions.
He wrote his own fate
with his own words,
and his shadow was the reflection
of his own body.
They try to slash his own words,
but they could not slaughter his spirit,
for his spirit is free,
and his words are “verse libre.”
By: Sam Kuraishi
Chicago, Illinois, U/S.A.
Darwish was an unheralded poet to lovers of western poetry.But his typical prelapsarian simplicity to capture the human imagination across divides of numerous denominations—-proves that he was indeed a poet for the entire humanity.I would be surprised if he gets a posthumous Nobel.For his kind of poetry will never be patronised by institutions which go by repression in name of artistry.Darwish should be read by every educated man on this planet.Darwish is dead,but his poetry will live on in the mind of those who dipped into the charmed world of his remarkable poetry.