Long Fighters Poems

Fadwa Tuqan has been called the Grand Dame of Palestinian letters and The Poet of Palestine. These are my translations of Fadwa Tuqan poems originally written in Arabic.



Enough for Me
by Fadwa Tuqan 
loose translation/interpretation by...

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English translations of Arabic poems by Fadwa Tuqan aka "The Poet of Palestine"

Enough for Me
by Fadwa Tuqan 
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Enough for me to lie in the earth,
to be buried in her,
to sink...

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Unidentified extraterrestrial(s) willingly abducted me

As a divergence 
from the apocalyptical, dialectical, 
geomorphological, judgmatical, 
metaphorical, philosophical...,
I share an out of this 
(webbed wide) world,
light hearted anecdote 
ye may find far fetched.

Believe me you,
an unspecified number of...

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On that night the moon seemed hidden from her starry brothers
The kind of night not suited for the fighters nor the lovers
I ventured out only to put out the low burning lamp
When there I saw...

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Resistance On The Iberian Peninsula

“Liberté, égalité, fraternité (Liberty, Equality, Fraternity),”
Scream French revolutionists as they guillotine monarchists heads, 1
Then crown Napoleon Bonaparte Emperor of France, 2
Who commands the French forces in wars raged across Europe.

The Grande...

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February 29th, 2024

Alternately titled: 111th leap year since 1582
the year Pope Gregory XIII world leader
(i.e. essentially paterfamilias among
Roman Catholic flock)
timely maneuvered around calendrical rock
and hard space implementing
viable system tracking years ad hoc
out of sync and...

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January 13th 2024 - Happy Lxv-th birthday Matthew Scott Harris

date of conception:?  ~ Late March – mid April 1958.
date of parturition: January xiii, mcmlix.
date of expiration:? January i, eminem, 
where earth, wind, and fire...

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Au revoir oh perilous freedom...

Since pledging my troth
to the missus July 25th, 1996
after the comma error
punctuated mein kampf with disequilibrium.

Ever since the notions
of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness
coalesced within the mindscape
attributed to one
or more...

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I knew that  I had to go somewhere but I did not know where 
I knew I had to go somewhere that was not  very far from here
So I  put on my...

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Senate legal and constitutinal affairs reference committie convened
March 2022 one Senator presiding and two witnessing'
The room echoes as the warriors enter.! Almost equivelent to
The booming endorsements of the preceeding years yet ghostly 
Sounding echies now.....

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STOLEN ILLUMINATION OF THE STAR

This journey has not been a fanciful adventure, 
we're all settlers in  these dynasty of neo-colonialism 
united only by what divides us. Victims, yes 
victims of civilized inducement, 
terms of...

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What sustains life are sacred values,
so what cannot sustain becomes pathological.

Matriarchy is about nurturing and care-giving,
protecting life and conserving cooperative energies;
yet that implies that patriarchy devolves to controlling
and competitive care-receiving,
destroying life as WinLose necessary
to violently...

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Tasting Africa (One L****ick at a Time) Part 2
(Though the title's a joke, my limericks are not!)

5. Yet Another World Wonder
Feel like now I am older I need to admit
A Safari to Africa costs quite...

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Solivagant
                                  ...

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Arni Kleftiko Stolen Lamb


The Cypriots and Greeks have a few differences,
And can argue a great deal,
But both agree when it comes to ‘Kleftiko”
It has forever been, the most delectable 
Traditional Greek meal,
That ever a bandit...

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I have been instructed to release the following
manuscript on the death of my client
Mr John Phillips. Who was a former officer in the Royal Air Force.

Mr P.J .Carruthers.  LLB.
Solicitor for estates and wills.
London.
16th February...

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UNQUOTABLE QUOTES: LIII - Tongue Teasers

Whether the glass is « half full » or « half empty », what counts is WHO « drank" the "other half », the « better half » ? Lucky...

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It was not yet noon
when Ben said
a host of lovely things.
As far as we know,
no one accused him
of being publisher shy,
or sleeping in.

Ben said,
Early to bed
Early to rise
Makes a man,
and perhaps women and children more...

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While daydreaming about timepiece inventors...
as the figurative curtain closes on 2022

How arbitrary the assignment
of seconds, minutes, hours,
days, months, years...
to the passage of time,
and I would be hard pressed
to differentiate one moment
from the next without the...

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Do you see yourself as more Republican
or leaning more Democrat?

Oh my,
I'm a card-carrying Republican.
Came from a long patriarchal line
of red-blooded Republicans.

What makes you a Republican?
What is Republicanism, do you think?

Well...being against the Democrats, mostly.

OK. 
I...

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A field day shoe fit for Mother Goose
  
Fruitless effort squeezing figurative juice
Pandora called triggering 
helter skelter to get loose
necessitating Bullwinkle J. Moose
to usher at yours truly 
(an aspiring wordsmith) vamoose!

Hey diddle diddle the...

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There came a time in the history of Nigeria when she dreamed for independence,
There came a moment in the history of Nigeria when she groaned to gain freedom from the British;
There came a season in...

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Ode to Be

I feel different from other people,
Some say I am weird and strange,
This endless striving to be accepted, 
Just leaves me disheartened and drained. 
I haven’t found God in the Bible, 
But your eyes...

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Glory to the Ukranian Freedom Fighters
 
Democracy and freedom are under attack
Beaurocracy and greed man,
Don’t let this war criminal come back
Putin is lootin’ the streets of Ukraine
His crimes against humanity are bordering on insane
His unprovoked aggression...

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“His fastball, so they tell me, has been clocked at 105!
His ERA is 1 point 4!   The guy can really pitch!
I heard he’s making more than any athlete alive,
doing what…when baseball started…didn’t make...

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