Mahmoud Darwish: “Identity Card”

Mahmoud Darwish (13 March 1941 – 9 August 2008) was a Palestinian poet and author who won numerous awards for his literary output and was regarded as the Palestinian national poet. In his work, Palestine became a metaphor for the loss of Eden, birth and resurrection, and the anguish of dispossession and exile. He has been described as incarnating and reflecting ‘the tradition of the political poet in Islam, the man of action whose action is poetry’.  (Text source: Poem Hunter)

The following poem is one of his best known pieces.  

The identity card of Mahmoud Darwish issued by the Israeli authorities

The poet’s passport
Images from The Mahmoud Darwish Foundation (http://www.darwishfoundation.org)

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