Al-Ahram Weekly | Culture

		Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 8 - 14 February 2001 Issue No.520
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875		Current issue \| Previous issue \| Site map

The Offering
By Mahmoud Darwish
Forward, come forward you alone, you alone.
The high priests around you await God's will, so ascend
O offering towards the stone altar, O lamb
Of sacrifice -- our sacrifice, our redemption... ascend strong.
You have our love, our hoarse songs in
The desert: Bring water from the twilight of the mirage
And awaken the dead. Your blood is the answer, and we
Did not kill you, did not kill a prophet
Except to put the resurrection to the test, so test us
In this steel dust. And die so that you may know
How we love you, how we love you. Die that we may know
How your full heart falls on our prayers
Ripe dates.
Yours is the shape of meaning. So do not return
To the parts of your body. Leave behind your name in the echo,
An adjective of something. Be an icon for the believers,
An adornment for the sleepless. And be a martyr bearing witness
With a face, open and kind.
Which is it, of the favours, that we deny? Who purifies us
Except you? Who sets us free except you?
You were born there in our stead. You were born of light
And of fire. And we were carpenters with a talent for
Fashioning the cross, so take your cross and ascend
Above the heavens.
We will say: you did no wrong, neither did we. If it does
Not rain, we wait, offering your body as a sacrifice
Time and again. There is no offering other than you, beloved
Of God, son of the blood-red anemones. How many more
Times will you return alive!
Forward, come forward you alone, O metaphor of ours
Singular above the bottomless pit of the lyricists. We, the hollow
Asleep on horseback, we ask of you fidelity, so
Be faithful to the race and the message. Be faithful
To the beautiful myths, be faithful!
Which is it, of the favours, that we deny? The planets
Are in your hands. So be our last sign. Be our last
Phrase in the rubble of the alphabet. "We remain
Living, even if dead". In your blood we trusted.
Guide us and let the light of your pure, sweet blood shine.
No one asked pardon for your wounds. We all said
To Rome: "We were not with him" and handed you over to the executioner.
Forgive us our minor betrayal, O brother
Weaned at the same breast. We did not know what was happening.
So be merciful, content.
We will accept the vision and believe in the wondrous marriage
Of spirit and the sacred body. All the roses
Of the earth suffice not your throne. The earth became light,
rounded, then flew a dove in your sky --
O graceful sacrifice. Burn to illumine us, and blossom
A star, distant,
Higher and higher. You are not one of us should you descend
And say: "I have a body suffering on the wood of the
Cross." For should you speak, you would awaken, our truth
Exposed. So be a dream that we may dream. Be not human
Or tree. And be a defiant riddle.
Be the light accent between the gods
Of the sky and us. The impotent clouds might then
Send down rain from the windows of your upright letter's heights. Be the light of good
news,
Write down the revelation on the entrance of the cave, and grant us
A straight path.
May all that turns green celebrate you,
Trees and stones, things forgotten
By the butterfly, a poem at the end of time,
And may all who are without memory celebrate you
Or a splendid moon.
Do not break. Do not be victorious, be in-
Between suspended. If you break, you break us.
And if victorious you break us, destroy our temple.
Be dead-living, and living-dead, that the high priests
May carry on with their occupation. And be a hidden apparition.
Remain alone on high, the weight of time not within
Your range of fire. So ascend as high as you can
For you are the most beautiful of us when a martyr. Be as distant as you can
That we may behold in the revelation your shadow, a crimson map.
Peace be upon you the day you were born in the land of peace,
And the day you died, and the day you shall be resurrected from death's darkness
Living!
Translated by Nur Elmessiri

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