Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents v
3. Translatorʼs Introduction 1
4. From A Chair on the Walls of Acre
5. The Waves of Acre 9
6. What More Could I Want? 12
7. Tal al- Samak 13
8. In Natureʼs Cell 14
9. Citizens of Dust 15
10. Embrace 16
11. A Mere Mortal 17
12. Villagers Refl ecting on Joy 18
13. A Verse by Hafez Ibrahim on the Shore of Haifa 19
14. Words for Wadi Salib 21
15. Not This Cup 22
16. Tormented by Joy 23
17. Days of Hell 24
18. Waiting 25
19. Balad al- Shaykh 26
20. A Riding Song with Badawi al- Jabal 27
21. You Said 29
22. The Hell of My People 30
23. In the Beginning 31
24. In Abandonment 32
25. In Oblivion 34
26. Fate 35
27. Hardly Breathe 36
28. Quietly Returning 37
29. I Never Knew 38
30. A Notebook 39
31. An Ottoman Tune 40
32. Near the Shrine of Saint Naum 41
33. The Piano Playerʼs Strokes 42
34. Lost 43
35. Obrigado 44
36. In Praise of Experience 45
37. A Sun Outside of Tragedy 46
38. Light cannot be held 47
39. A sentence in the swelter of contemplation 48
40. Mountains crumble in my head 49
41. I want these words to take me back thirty years 50
42. The paper kite 51
43. The Poem of Returning Home 52
44. Life Review at Thirty- Seven 53
45. As for My Singing 54
46. From With Every Storm That Comes: A Season in London
47. A Dinner Invitation 55
48. While Youʼre Waiting at the End 58
49. On the Way to Tipaza 60
50. Recalling a Tryst in a Park 61
51. You Think of a House 62
52. With Every Storm That Comes 63
53. A Wave of People 64
54. Just Like Them 65
55. Mercilessly 66
56. I Had a Word 67
57. Blink of an Eye 68
58. To That Room 69
59. Home 70
60. Dissatisfied 71
61. The Last Day 72
62. In Despair 73
63. A Distant Country 74
64. We Never Stop 75
65. From Discourses 77
66. From You Are Not a Poet in Granada
67. Rise, Granada 89
68. You Are Not a Poet in Granada 95
69. I Write the Land 96
70. A New Notebook 97
71. You Say That 98
72. I Hunt the Breeze 99
73. As a Vagabond 100
74. Reading Uyoun Al- Akhbar in the Language Academyʼs Library 101
75. In the Café 102
76. In the Li 103
77. The Water Doesnʼt Remember 104
78. I Know This Sea 106
79. Lightning Writes Poetry 107
80. In Rabatʼs Night 108
81. I Wonʼt Go Back 109
82. An Afternoon in Albaicín 110
83. An Algerian Nuba 111
84. From One Country to Another 112
85. Early Riser 113
86. A Morning Note for the Paradise of Carmel 114
87. I Heard Him Sing 115
88. In the Colony 116
89. I Donʼt Claim 117
90. The Country Contrabass 120
91. A Brief Commentary on “Literary Success” 121
92. The Interrogation 122
93. I Bear Only Smoke 123
94. I Remember Umar 124
95. As If Talking to Myself 126
96. Citizens of the Tristes Tropiques 127
97. Out of the Depths 128
98. Forever Roaming 129
99. A Conversation with Faris Baroudʼs Mother in the Al-Shati Camp 130
100. Take Me, Drag Me Away 131
101. Land 132
102. The Shelling Ended 133
103. From Exhausted on the Cross
104. Mount Carmel 135
105. In Shatila 139
106. Elegy for a Sleeping Child 141
107. Because of a Woman 143
108. A Short Story About the Closing of the Sea 144
109. Exhausted on the Cross 146
110. Enough 148
111. All of It 149
112. My Defeated Banner 150
113. “A Breeze from Üsküdar” and Other Poems
114. Boy 151
115. Witnessing Abandonment 156
116. While Speaking About an Earthquake in Istanbul 157
117. Abandonment and a Home 158
118. Nurtured by the Hand of God 159
119. Late 160
120. Like Everyone Else 161
121. The Day Leaves You 162
122. In Response to a Poet Who Dreams of Glory 163
123. A Breeze from Üsküdar 164
124. Sousanʼs Mirror 165
125. Tarjīʻ- Band 166
126. Sleep 167
127. From Weary of Walking in the Barzakh
128. I Oft en Dream 169
129. At a Poetry Festival 173
130. Buildings 174
131. I Saw Trees 175
132. A Visitor from Hell 176
133. A Fleeting Slaughter 178
134. This Darkness 179
135. The New Year 180
136. In Captivity 181
137. No One 182
138. The Thieves 183
139. Take This Waltz 184
140. Hills of Thorns 185
141. A City Quartet 186
142. Someone There 188
143. Iʼve Oft en Told You 189
144. Breaking Dishes 191
145. A Variation on a Verse by Al- Maʼarri 192
146. Aft er Youʼve Worked Like a Slave 193
147. From the Void 194
148. Sanāsil 195
149. The River 196
150. I Said Iʼd Run 197
151. The Last Mask 198
152. For the Sake of Some New Terror 200
153. Iʼve Tried So Many Times 201
154. Psalm 202
155. Little Malta 203
156. A Hand on a Desk 205
157. Two Quills 206
158. A Trace in the Sand 207
159. A Song for Hell 208
160. Rooms 209
161. A Special Thanks 210
162. A Portrait of Badia Masabni in Chtoura 211
163. The Face of a Friend 212
164. A Younger Boy 213
165. If You Only Knew 214
166. A Forgotten Poem About Friendship 215
167. A Long Scar 216
168. A Single Sentence 217
169. Endless 218
170. Translatorʼs Notes 219
171. Credits 225
172. Translatorʼs Acknowledgments 227