You still talk irrationally in dangling interpretations.
Your eyes are startled, and mounds of clay have changed you.
You see troops drawing near,
your eyes are startled, and you talk irrationally.

BASSAM K FRANGIEH

is Professor of Arabic at Yale University, USA, and au thor of several books, including Alien atien and fhr Palestinian Novel (Arabic). He has translated leading Arab Poets and novelists into English.