In this Labyrinth
translated from the Arabic by Kareem James Abu-Zeid
I said these words weren’t needed
as I was sitting there,
where the road veered sharply,
without thinking for a moment
that it might only be a gentle winding.
Yet here I am, new,
like I always was.
Why should I care
if it’s the beating of tambourines
or the striking of tablas
or the madness of zurnas
that’s happening here?
I’m made of earth,
so why should I care
if I’m crumbled
or scattered on the land?
It was in this labyrinth,
in it alone,
that I found my way.
في هذه المتاهة
وكنتُ أجلس في المنعطفات
وأقول هذا كلامٌ نافِل
دون أن أُفكّر للحظةٍ بأنّها منحنَيات
وها أنا أكون جديداً
كما دوماً كنتُ
وما هَمَّني ضَربُ دفوفٍ أم قرع طبولٍ أم جنون مزامير
ما همّني ما همّني
أنا من ترابٍ
وما همّني أذبلُ أو أُحطَّم بأرضي
وفي هذه المتاهة
فيها وحدها
وجدتُ طريقي.
Copyright © 2025 by Najwan Darwish. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on September 11, 2025, by the Academy of American Poets.
“The poem ‘In this Labyrinth’ is from a collection by the prominent Palestinian poet Najwan Darwish that was written while he was living, for the better part of a year, outside of Palestine in London in 2014. It is one of Darwish’s darker and less hopeful collections; yet the end of this poem stands out, on account of its sense of hope even in the midst of despair. This poem has always been a touchstone for me as a translator, and—despite the specific context mentioned above—I always feel as if Darwish could have written it just yesterday.”
—Kareem James Abu-Zeid
Najwan Darwish
Najwan Darwish is the author of nine collections of poetry. The recipient of several awards, including the Sarah Maguire Prize in Translation and the Cilento International Poetry Prize, Darwish lives between Haifa and his birthplace, Jerusalem.