Happy to stumble upon this catchy rendition of a poem of mine, performed in Jerusalem, by a band called The Hazelnuts.
Below, is video of their performance to a packed, appreciative audience:
This surprises & humbles me on so many levels...
For one, it’s an inward sort of poem, which I did not think would connect with many.
Second, as someone with Palestinian background, it’s kind of a big deal to have words of mine performed by an Israeli group, in Palestine/Israel.
As a friend of mine said, after viewing this: there’s nothing contested about art.
Poetry is an act of peace. Peace goes into the making of a poet as flour goes into the making of bread.
—Pablo Neruda
And, here are the words to my lucky poem put to song:
You again
You again, of the singing wound
here again, lost and found and lost
trafficking in metaphysics and eternity
as the nearest hopes
where to, pilgrim
outdistancing chasms
rationing emotions
seeking sustenance
for the self too subtle and proud
for words
nocturnal flower, nurtured solitude
watered night
there you go, restraining the impulse
to say it all at once
even surrounded by silence
still filled with noise
now, having stirred some thrumming
hour when the moon throws
her full-bodied light
over all, like a silver screen night
of silent films, the whirring
of the reel.
—y. lababidi, author of Learning to Pray
