"Nature prefers a waste space to an empty one."
Northrop Frye How we resent the terror-inflicted strictures |
Observe the beauty of this ugly city, With its brilliant fruit stalls Against leprous walls, Which have mocked fireballs, Shielding tired, crouching people Who dream of a different history. Observe the dignity of this demented city, With its profuse garbage dumps, And rasping motors, which pump Noise and fumes into hole-ridden streets, Peopled by lab-mice in bread lines, Attempting normalcy. Observe the strength of this paraplegic city, With its gasless stations And waterless taps And tenacious women with deserted laps, Who wait, despairing yet erect, For the good old days That may never be. |
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Read it in Arabic as translated by Aida Y.Haddad