Tribute to Mahmoud Darwish

The One-O’clock Train

A man and a woman separating,
dusting roses off their hearts,
breaking .

The shadow getting out of the shadow
They ‘re becoming three:
A man,
a woman
and time…

The train does not come
So, they get back into the café
saying something else,
getting into harmony
And loving the rising of dawn
out of the cords of a guitar
and not separating…

..Then I turned back roaming the sight

in the yards of this heart.
A lane and friends
getting into the cave
and into oblivion,
called upon me in Madrid.

I don’t forget but the woman’s face
or my delight…
I’d forget you and forget you
and forget you a lot
I f we had been a bit late
for the one-o’clock train.

I f we had sat down for an hour
in the Chinese restaurant ,
I f returning birds had passed by.
if we had read the night papers.

But we were
A man and a woman meeting...

Mahmoud Darwish

13 March 1941 – 9 August 2008

My own translation