UPA is delighted to launch a new poetry collection curated by Palestinian-American poet and UPA supporter Zeina Azzam! On the first Tuesday of each month throughout 2021, a poem related to Palestine will be posted on our blog and social media pages. We began January with “Think of Others” by Mahmoud Darwish, 

Mahmoud Darwish is Palestine’s poet laureate. Perhaps no other poet commands the stature of Darwish in Palestinian literature and culture. Born in 1941 in al-Birweh, near Akka in Palestine, he and his family fled during the start of the Nakba in 1948. On returning later that year, they found that their village had been razed by the Israeli army. Darwish’s writings echo and reflect his experience of loss and dispossession, exile and longing. At the same time, he imbues his poetry with nationalistic pride as well as profound and beautiful connections with the people, land, and history of Palestine.  

The poem, “Think of Others,” asks us to consider more than our own, circumscribed lives, to look at the people and the world around us and think of how we can understand and help others, how to shine like a candle in the dark. 

Think of Others 

As you prepare your breakfast, think of others

           (do not forget the pigeon’s food).  

As you conduct your wars, think of others  

           (do not forget those who seek peace).  

As you pay your water bill, think of others  

           (those who are nursed by clouds).  

As you return home, to your home, think of others  

           (do not forget the people of the camps).  

As you sleep and count the stars, think of others  

           (those who have nowhere to sleep).  

As you liberate yourself in metaphor, think of others  

           (those who have lost the right to speak).  

As you think of others far away, think of yourself  

           (say: “If only I were a candle in the dark”). 

About Zeina Azzam 

Zeina Azzam is a Palestinian American poet, writer, editor, and community activist. Her poems are published widely in literary journals, anthologies, and edited volumes. Zeina’s chapbook, Bayna Bayna, In-Between, will be released by The Poetry Box in May 2021. She holds an M.A. in Arabic literature from Georgetown University.

Find us on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn to read the monthly poems!