RASHID HUSEIN [17.380] Poeta de Palestina

Rashid Husein 

1936 – 1977 poeta de la resistencia palestina. Nació Rashid Husein Aghbarieh en el pueblo de Musmus de las aldeas de Umm al-Fahm en 1936  Cisjordania- Palestina, y se mudó con su familia a Haifa en 1944, a causa de la guerra en 1948 y volvió a instalarse en su pueblo natal, Musmus. Empezó a escribir poesía a una edad temprana. En un corto período de tiempo se convirtió en el primer poeta en la arena palestina en Palestina USURPADA, publicó su primer libro de poesía a la edad de veinte años.

Trabajó en la enseñanza hasta que fue expulsado por el estado de Israel. Redactor jefe del periódico Al Fayyer hasta que fue prohibido por Israel.

Pasó varios años en las cárceles del estado de Israel.

A una nube

Soy la tierra, no me prives de lluvia

Soy todo lo que queda de ella, si

plantas árboles en mi frente

o conviertes en un huerto mis versos

de cereales

y rosas

Para conocerme

dame la lluvia

Yo soy, nube de mi vida, los montes de Galilea

Mi pecho es Haifa

Y Yaffa mi frente

No digas: imposible

¿Qué no escuchas los pasos de mi niño, que se acerca

a los umbrales de tu alma?

¿Qué no ves las venas de mi frente

empeñadas en tocar sus labios?

A tu espera, mis poemas se tornaron polvo

se volvieron un campo

se tornaron trigo

y crecieron árboles

Soy todo lo que queda de nuestra tierra

Así que dame…

dame la lluvia.

Rashid Hussein (1936-1977) was born in Musmus, Palestine. He published his first collection in 1957 and established himself as a major Palestinian poet and orator. He participated in founding the Land Movement in 1959. He left in 1966 and lived in Syria and Lebanon and later in New York City where he died in February, 1977. He was buried a week later in Musmus. His funeral was attended by thousands of Palestinians.

With the Land

The land comes near me

drinks from me

leaves its orchards with me

to become a beautiful weapon

defending me

Even when I sleep

the land comes near me

in my dream.

I smuggle its wild thyme 

between exiles

I sing its stones

I will even sweat blood

from my veins

to drink its news

so the land comes near me

leaves a stone of love with me

to defend it 

and defend me

When I repay it 

I will embrace it a thousand times

I will worship it a thousand times

I will celebrate its wedding on my forehead

on the rubble of exiles

and the ruins of prisons

I will drink from it

It will drink from me

So that the Galilee would remain 

beauty, struggle, and love

defending it

defending me

I see the land; 

a morning that will come

and the land will come near me

Without a Passport

I was born without a passport

I grew up

and saw my country

become prisons

without a passport

So I raised a country

a sun

and wheat

in every house

I tended to the trees therein

I learned how to write poetry

to make the people of my village happy

without a passport

I learned that he whose land is stolen

does not like the rain

If he were ever to return to it, he will

without a passport

But I am tired of minds 

that have become hotels 

for wishes that never give birth

except with a passport

Without a passport

I came to you

and revolted against you

so slaughter me

perhaps I will then feel that I am dying

without a passport

* Translated by Sinan Antoon. The two poems appear in Rashid Hussein, Al-A`mal al-Shi`riyya (al-Taybe: Markaz Ihya’ al-Turath al-`Arabi, 1990)

.