Permitted to Sell, Forbidden to Claim
by Khaled Nusseibeh

Does an emerald orange grove sense unhappy loss
When the fruits of plundered orchards are bidden farewell?

The bride of the coast stands mightily though in refuge
As though put to slow sleep by overwhelming might

Cordoned slumber has many a volcanic eruption
And many a Jazzar defying iniquitous truce

The stones of majestic dwelling have a sad tale to tell
The tears of uprooted daughters beyond the tier' coast

As though a lighthouse that is dimmed but still glowing
Eyeing for many  a dark day the ships of imminent conquest

Her sons are as the cluster of its homeless oranges
Fruits that may be sold but are forbidden to claim

As though a country and history buried in memory's shame
Where the old stones must bleed to legal death

Though slowly migrating to complete disinheritance
Its young waves strive and suffer that Jaffa lives

Time has its vicissitudes that turn a rightful claim into crime
But can the emerald sea disinherit its sons?

Do the scales of heaven bow to the land register's patron
That right is given an untrue ritual of burial?

War has its winners who in jubilant triumph
Honour battle with history's true tale

And keep vision unveiled for fear of the stirrup's falsehood
That right dies not bury the victor's future

Defeat has a pinnacle in triumph's hour
That builds the victory of twisted, though emerging truth

War unmistakably has its wondrous spoils
That multiply abundance with truthful tales

And does not surrender to history's will to uproot
Shamed by the quest to remove an earth's memory

Must right suffer compounded pain
That the victims are chased with the crime to be?

If Jaffa is but a rolling pebble, a broken shell, a wooden raft
Its every orchard says it was, it is, and it shall always be
 

© 2003 Khaled Nusseibeh