Detaining a Poem, by Dareeen Tatour
Translated from the Arabic by Andrew Leber
One day,
they stopped me,
shackled me,
tied up my body, my soul,
my everything…
Then they said: search her,
we’ll find a terrorist within her!
They turned my heart inside out—
my eyes as well,
rummaged through even my feelings.
From my eyes they drew a pulse of inspiration;
from my heart, the ability to sketch out meanings.
Then they said: beware!
She’s hiding weapons deep in her pockets.
Search her!
Root out the explosives.
And so they searched me…
Finally, they said, accusing me:
We found nothing
in her pockets except letters.
We found nothing except for a poem.
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Dareen Tatour at the Nazareth Magistrates' Court, July 31, 2018, where she was sentenced to 5-months prison for her poetry by the Zionist.
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