Mahmoud Darwish was one of the most acclaimed contemporary poets in the Arab world, and is often cited as the poetic voice of the Palestinian people. During the tumultuous summer of 2006, as Israel attacked Gaza and Lebanon, Darwish was in Ramallah. He recorded his observations and feelings in writing, included in A River Dies of Thirst, some of his last work. In this collection, Darwish writes of love, loss, and the pain of exile in bittersweet poems and diary entries leavened with hope and joy. 'Darwish has given expression to his people's ordinary longings and desires.' The New York Times 'Darwish did as much as anyone to forge a Palestinian national consciousness.' Guardian

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Author: Mahmoud Darwish was born in 1941 in the village of al-Birweh in Galilee, Palestine. His family fled to Lebanon in 1948 when the Israeli army destroyed their village. He published around 30 poetry and prose collections, which have been translated into 35 languages, and founded the prestigious literary review Al Karmel. Darwish was awarded the Lenin Peace Prize, the Lannan Prize for Cultural Freedom, the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres and the Prince Claus Award. He died in August 2008. Translator: Catherine Cobham has translated the works of Naguib Mahfouz, Hanan al-Shaykh, Adonis, Fuad al-Takarli and Nawal El Saadawi, among others.

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Contents: Preface 11 The girl/The scream 21 Green flies 22 Like a prose poem 23 If only I were a stone 24 Beyond identification 25 The enemy 26 Nero 27 The forest 28 Doves 29 The house as casualty 30 The cunning of the metaphor 31 The mosquito 32 An eagle flying low 33 A personal duty 35 A common enemy 36 The rest of a life 37 The colour yellow 39 If only the young were trees 40 We arrived too late 41 Two strangers 42 What's it all for? 43 A talent for hope 44 I am only him 45 I did not dream 46 6 The pretty girls' neighbour 47 How far is far? 48 He sees himself as absent 49 He said: 'I'm afraid' 50 The roar of silence 51 A person chasing himself 52 A longing to forget 53 A river dies of thirst 54 The wall 55 The law of fear 56 I walked on my heart 57 Routine 58 A gun and a shroud 59 If we want to 60 Cheated time 62 Perfection 63 One, two, three 64 Empty boxes 65 On nothingness 66 My imagination - a faithful hunting dog 67 If I were someone else 68 Assassination 69 Rustling 70 A metaphor 71 In the company of things 72 A shawl made of silk 73 A sort of loss 74 A shameful land 75 7 Summer and winter 76 A coloured cloud 77 A spring passing quickly 78 Life to the last drop 79 The butterfly effect 80 I was not with me 81 The faces of truth 82 As if he were asleep 83 Visible music 84 The road to where 85 The humour of eternity 86 The indifferent one 87 The picture and the frame 88 Snow 89 An infectious disease 90 A bed of lavender 91 Most and least 92 I am jealous of everything around you 93 Lose one of your stars 94 Private meetings 95 She said to him 96 A sneeze 97 In praise of wine 98 At the top of the cypress trees 99 Point of view 100 The mercy bullet 101 Shyness 102 Perfection is the same as imperfection 103 8 Prickly pear 105 In the empty square 106 A short holiday 107 Fame 108 If I were a hunter 109 Nightmare 110 Iraq's night is long 111 In Cordoba 113 In Madrid 114 High is the mountain 115 I don't notice 116 That word 117 Echo 118 The second olive tree 119 Willow tree 120 Right of return to paradise 121 If it were not for sin 122 Italian autumn 123 Two travellers to a river 124 A killer and innocent 125 As if she is a song 126 My poet/my other 127 A clear sky and a green garden 128 A single word 129 The essence of the poem 130 Satire 132 On oratory and orators 133 Half and half 135 9 I think 136 The second line 137 Higher and further 138 The canary 139 On a boat on the Nile 140 The lonely man's addiction 141 In Rabat 142 Description 143 In Skogas 144 The exile finds his way 146 Boulevard St Germain 147 Things would be different 149 A life beginning 150 The hand of the statue 151 In Beirut 152 The return of June 153 If only people envied us 154 From now on you are somebody else 155 From now on you are you 160 Acknowledgements 165