Unfortunately, It Was Paradise: Selected Poems

"These translations of Mahmoud Darwish's marvelous poems reveal the lifelong development of a major world poet. The book is a gift to other poets and lovers of poetry. It's also an important contribution to current and future discourse on culture and politics."--Adrienne Rich, author of Fox: Poems, 1996-2000

"At this critical moment in world relations, cultural, creative projects feel more necessary than ever. Celebrate this most comprehensive gathering of Mahmoud Darwish's poetry ever translated into English. Darwish is the premier poetic voice of the Palestinian people, and the collaboration between translators Akash and Forché is a fine mingling of extraordinary talents. The style here is quintessential Darwish--lyrical, imagistic, plaintive, haunting, always passionate, and elegant--and never anything less than free--what he would dream for all his people."--Naomi Shihab Nye, author of Fuel

Mahmoud Darwish is a literary rarity: at once critically acclaimed as one of the most important poets in the Arabic language, and beloved as the voice of his people. A legend in Palestine, his lyrics are sung by fieldworkers and schoolchildren. He has assimilated some of the world's oldest literary traditions while simultaneously struggling to open new possibilities for poetry. This collection spans Darwish's entire career, nearly four decades, revealing an impressive range of expression and form. A splendid team of translators has collaborated with the poet on these new translations, which capture Darwish's distinctive voice and spirit. Fady Joudah's foreword, new to this edition, addresses Darwish's enduring legacy following his death in 2008.

Mahmoud Darwish (1941 - 2008) was the author of over thirty books of poems, including Memory for Forgetfulness: August, Beirut, 1982 (California, 1995), The Adam of Two Edens (2001), and Psalms (1994). He received the 2001 Prize for Cultural Freedom from the Lannan Foundation.

Munir Akash is a founding editor of Jusoor, The Arab American Journal of Cultural Exchange, and coeditor of The Adam of Two Edens (2001) and Post Gibran: Anthropology of New Arab American Writing (2000). Carolyn Forché is Professor of English at George Mason University and author of The Angel of History (1994). Sinan Antoon is coeditor of Arab Studies Journal. Amira El-Zein is the author of Bedouin of Hell (1992) and The Book of Palm Trees (1973).

Fady Joudah is a prize-winning poet, translator, and physician. He is the author of The Earth in the Attic (2008) and Alight (2013), and the translator of two volumes of Mahmoud Darwish's poetry, The Butterfly's Burden (2007) and If I Were Another (2009).

Acknowledgments Munir Akash

Introduction Munir Akash and Carolyn Forché

FROM Fewer Roses (1986)

I Will Slog over This Road

Another Road in the Road

Were It Up to Me to Begin Again

On This Earth

I Belong There

Addresses for the Soul, outside This Place

Earth Presses against Us

We Journey towards a Home

We Travel Like All People

Athens Airport

I Talk Too Much

We Have the Right to Love Autumn

The Last Train Has Stopped

On the Slope, Higher Than the Sea, They Slept

He Embraces His Murderer

Winds Shift against Us

Neighing on the Slope

Other Barbarians Will Come

They Would Love to See Me Dead

When the Martyrs Go to Sleep

The Night There

We Went to Aden

Another Damascus in Damascus

The Flute Cried

In This Hymn

FROM I See What I Want to See (1993)

The Hoopoe

FROM Why Have You Left the Horse Alone? (1995)

I See My Ghost Coming from Afar

A Cloud in My Hands

The Kindhearted Villagers

The Owl's Night

The Everlasting Indian Fig

The Lute of Ismael

The Strangers' Picnic

The Raven's Ink

Like the Letter "N" in the Qur'an

Ivory Combs

The Death of the Phoenix

Poetic Regulations

Excerpts from the Byzantine Odes of Abu Firas

The Dreamers Pass from One Sky to Another

A Rhyme for the Odes (Mu'allaqat)

Night That Overflows My Body

The Gypsy Woman Has a Tame Sky

FROM A Bed for the Stranger (1999)

We Were without a Present

Sonnet II

The Stranger Finds Himself in the Stranger

The Land of the Stranger, the Serene Land

Inanna's Milk

Who Am I, without Exile?

Lesson from the Kama Sutra

Mural (2000)

Mural

Three Poems (before 1986)

A Soldier Dreams of White Tulips

As Fate Would Have It

Four Personal Addresses

Glossary