The+Prison+Cell

// **The Prison Cell** //

// It is possible. . . 1 // // It is possible at least sometimes. . . // // It is possible especially now // // To ride a horse // // Inside a prison cell // // And run away. . . //

// It is possible for prison walls 7 // // To disappear, // // For the cell to become a distant land // // Without frontiers: //

// What did you do with the walls? 11 // // I gave them back to the rocks. // // And what did you do with the ceiling? // // I turned it into a saddle. // // And your chain? // // I turned it into a pencil. //

// The prison guard got angry. 17 // // He put an end to the dialogue. // // He said he didn’t care for poetry, // // And bolted the door of my cell. //

// He came back to see me 21 // // In the morning. // // He shouted at me: //

// Where did all this water come from? 24 // // I brought it from the Nile. // // And the trees? // // From the orchards of Damascus. // // And the music? // // From my heartbeat. //

// The prison guard got mad. 30 // // He put an end to my dialogue. // // He said he didn’t like my poetry, // // And bolted the door of my cell. //

// But he returned in the evening: 34 //

// Where did this moon come from? 35 // // From the nights of Baghdad. // // And the wine? // // From the vineyards of Algiers. // // And this freedom? // // From the chain you tied me with last night. //

// The prison guard grew so sad. . . 41 // // He begged me to give him back // // His freedom. //

- Mahmoud Darwish (1941-2008) Translated by Ben Bennani//