I learnt all the words worthy of the court of blood So that I could break the rule I learnt all the words and broke them up To make a single word: Homeland.

Sometimes I feel as if I am read before I write. When I write a poem about my mother, Palestinians think my mother is a symbol for Palestine. But I write as a poet, and my mother is my mother. She's not a symbol.

The poem is in my hands, and can run stories through her hands.

We suffer from an incurable malady: Hope.

The days have taught you not to trust happiness because it hurts when it deceives.

I am not a lover of Israel, of course. I have no reason to be. But I don't hate Jews.

And I tell myself, a moon will rise from my darkness.