Poetry about Palestine

A Letter From Palestine

by Alice Guerin Crist

1876-1941, written in 1921

A letter from “The East” it came today,

And all the house is lightened of its gloom:

A sun-browned desert wind through every room

Eddies, and bring strange scents of old bazaare;

Of orange-groves beneath the dreaming stars

O’er far Jerusalem.  Through these ordered rooms

Where poppies glow and pale narcissi blooms

Nod in tall vases, sings the desert breeze

Telling of brown battalion overseas.

Khaki-clad soldiers, singing as they go

Along the road to Gaza, and we know

The very breath of freedom’s in the air

With their gay boast, “Australia will be there”

Mateship and courage, loyalty and truth

The very essence of Australian youth!

We have no fears! serene in faith we pray

For those dear gallant lads so far away.

Mawtini

By Palestinian poet Ibrahim Touqan Circa 1934

My homeland, My homeland

Glory and beauty, Sublimity and splendor

Are in your hills, Are in your hills

Life and deliverance, Pleasure and hope

Are in your air, Are in your Air

Will I see you? Will I see you?

Safe and comforted, Sound and honored

Will I see you in your eminence?

Reaching to the stars, Reaching to the stars

My homeland, My homeland

My homeland, My homeland

The youth will not tire, ’till your independence

Or they die

We will drink from death

And will not be to our enemies

Like slaves, Like slaves

We do not want, We do not want

An eternal humiliation

Nor a miserable life

We do not want

But we will bring back

Our storied glory, Our storied glory

My homeland, My homeland

The sword and the pen

Not the talk nor the quarrel

Are our symbols, Are our symbols

Our glory and our covenant

And a duty to be faithful

Moves us, moves us

Our glory, Our glory

Is an honorable cause

And a waving standard

O, behold you

In your eminence

Victorious over your enemies

Victorious over your enemies

My homeland, My homeland