The Enemy, and: Two Strangers, and: He Says to Her: If Only I Were Younger

106 I was there a month ago, a year ago. I was always there. It is as if I had been only there. In 1982, we went through what we are going through today. They surrounded us, they killed us and we fought back against what was dealt us from hell. The dead martyrs do not look like one another. To each his stature, traits, eyes, name and age. But the killers look like one another. They are one who multiplies behind missiles, presses electronic buttons , kills and vanishes. They can see us but we are unable to see them. Not that he is a specter but because he is the cold, faceless front of an idea . . . featureless, blind, ageless, without proper names . . . He has . . . He chose to bear one name: enemy! MAHMOUD DARWISH THE ENEMY Translated from the Arabic by Mustapha Marrouchi 107 He looks at the sky and sees a star looking back at him! He looks at the valley and sees his grave looking back at him! He looks at a woman who torments and attracts him, but she doesn’t look at him! He looks at himself in the mirror and sees a stranger, like him, looking back at him! Athar al-Farâsha, 13, 34 MAHMOUD DARWISH Translated from the Arabic by Mustapha Marrouchi TWO STRANGERS 108 MAHMOUD DARWISH Translated from the Arabic by Mustapha Marrouchi HE SAYS TO HER: IF ONLY I WERE YOUNGER He says to her: If only I were younger . . . She says: the night will make me blossom like the scent of a jasmine flower, in the summer and she adds: And you, you will grow younger while sleeping because everyone who sleeps is a child. As for me, I will stay up all night, so that my eyes grow dark. Two traces of deliberate sleeplessness will be enough to add a few years. I squeeze the juice of a lemon on my belly to wash away the taste of milk and the scent of cotton. I rub salt and ginger on my breasts and my breasts become firmer. He says to her: There is no room in my heart for a garden, little girl . . . There is no time in my body for tomorrows . . . Take the time to grow up. She says: Don’t counsel me about love. Take me that I may grow up! Take me so that you may grow younger. He says to her: Tomorrow when you have grown up, you will say: Oh I am no longer young! She says to him: My desire is like a fruit that cannot wait another day . . . There is no time in my body for tomorrow! Ka-zahr al-lawz aw abb‘ad, 56 ...