Poem #24. Identity Card [بطاقة هوية]

by Mahmoud Darwish [محمود درويش], translated by The Scholar

Jul 17, 2025

∙ Paid

The keffiyeh in red is the headdress worn by men of the Middle East, the agal is the black accessory holding it together (both mentioned in poem)

[Standard Translation]

Write down!
I am an Arab
And my identity card number is fifty thousand
I have eight children
And the ninth will arrive after summer.
Will you be angry?

Write down!
I am an Arab
Employed with my fellow workers in a quarry
I have eight children
I wrest from the rock
Their bread, their clothes, their schoolbooks.
I do not beg at your doors,
Nor do I lower myself
At the threshold of your chamber.
So will you be angry?

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