Inspired by Darwish’s “Rita and Rifle,” Dr Amitabh’s poem explores Gaza’s enduring suffering and the loss of love amidst conflict. Here are the two poems for Different Truths.
Gaza 10 years
after
there are no skies aloft Gaza
now
and even in Israel
there are just in patches
nobody lives in Gaza
nobody gazes at Gaza
nobody breathes in Gaza
it’s a Chernobyl
worse than
that
a sparrow twitters
her love song
told by the soul of
Mahmud Darwish
I remember many
years back when
Mahmud Darwish accompanied
by Yasser Arafat said at the
security council
I have a gun in one hand
and the white pigeon
on the other
let the world choose
Arafat left the world wearing
his keffiyeh without the gun
And Darwish too left
leaving guns
and lots of guns
Darwish knew, he said
the only love between him
and Rita
is the gun
in Gaza
the dead don’t depart
they stay
n alleys and tunnels
the wild wind in laughter
still blows through
the broken walls
between Gaza
and in Israel
the Jews have long forgotten
to pray
what was Gaza
is still
here.
Reference:
Rita and Rifle
Mahmoud Darwish
Between Rita's and my eyes
There is a rifle
And whoever knows Rita
Kneels and prays
To the divinity in those honey-coloured eyes.
And I kissed Rita
When she was young
And I remember how she approached
And how my arm covered the loveliest of braids.
And I remember Rita
The way a sparrow remembers its stream
Ah, Rita
Between us, there are a million sparrows and images
And many a rendezvous
Fired at by a rifle.
Rita's name was a feast in my mouth
Rita's body was a wedding in my blood
And I was lost in Rita for two years
And for two years, she slept on my arm
And we made promises
Over the most beautiful of cups
And we burned in the wine of our lips
And we were born again
Ah, Rita!
What, before this rifle could have turned my eyes from yours
Except a nap or two or honey-coloured clouds?
Once upon a time
Oh, the silence of dusk
In the morning, my moon migrated to a far place
Towards those honey-coloured eyes
And the city swept away all the singers
And Rita.
Between Rita and my eyes—
A rifle.
Pen and Ink Portrait of Mahmoud Darwish by Amitabh Mitra
Picture design Anumita Roy
Amitabh Mitra is a poet, artist, and medical doctor based in East London, South Africa. He is the Head of the Trauma and Emergency Medicine Department of a tertiary hospital complex in the black township of Mdantsane. It is the second-biggest Black township after Soweto. Recently, the Department of Arts and Culture, in association with Oxfam, honoured him for his contribution and long-standing devotion to the people of Mdantsane.
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Poem so powerful packed with emotions, breathing in and out the pangs of loss separation..
Hard hitting!
.
Many thanks