Badger laments his insufficient Arabic

If I live long enough
Mahmoud Darwish
I'll learn to read your poems, and those of others
But for now I'll take the word of the good people who can already read, who can listen
They say you said the truth and it wasn't cheapened by hate
And the anger wasn't cheapened by false patience

For the most part,
Mahmoud Darwish
In my country those who speak about it aren't our best people
They can't read, and they say what is said to them,
Putting it in the newspapers, and round and round
Mainly they are cowards, relying on the cowardice of many others

If I were you,
Mahmoud Darwish
Here I would raise my hand, and my voice ever so slightly:
"They have built a fortified structure of cowardice, and they live in it"
But not only can they not read
They can't listen, and I am not able to speak

Some day,
Mahmoud Darwish...