Suhail - Jerusalem

I shall not forget. I shall not abandon. I shall not shut up

At dawn of a new decade…
Of this new century…

And after six decades.
As a Palestinian,
exiled from 1948, with my subdued return…
Speak loudly my grunting voice, and ask to myself…
What a superior strength adjudged the right of thorning from my land,
And my birth city, the Old Jerusalem.

Should I shut up?...
Can I forget my father’s old town,
near Galilea Sea...
Can I forget the blue mantle of the Mediterranean Sea,
from Gaza to Haifa…

Can I forget our roots,
from Gaza to Birsheva…from Jerusalem to Bethlehem,
and from Nazareth to Jaffa and Galilea…

With the sour bitter to gall
crammed at the tragedy cross,
Should I abandon my ancestors, buried in Jerusalem, Al-Jish and Haifa.
Should I shut up…
and bite my tongue till cutting it.

Is it that?...
The world which divided my land, my heart, and squashed out my roots…
Is able to force me,
and goes on forcing me to forget, abandon and become silent…

As a Palestinian.
As Jerusalemite – Al Qudsi…
I shall not forget. I shall not abandon. I shall not shut up.

Suhail Hani Daher Akel

Jerusalem 2010