Middle East Logo.gif HEIGHT=

poetry.gif (4599 bytes)
MideastWeb Poetry       MidEastWeb Culture
toppan.gif (1551 bytes)

Middle East Mewzine peacewatch contents books history culture dialog links more links donations

The Sulha* Pomegranate

                Wait; please do not open Sulha's Pomegranate yet

                First tell me why doesn't the world know

                That you too and a million other Jews

                Of Arab Lands like you,

                Had to spread their wings wide

                Just like us on the Palestinian side -

                And flee with the wind and nothing, too?

 

                "Ele fat mat!" - What is past is dead! 

                Those dark, ancient times have fled, 

                Why is it important to you?

 

               Shall we open the pomegranate?

               

               Not yet, not yet, my friend.

               For me it is the beautiful saving face of Sulha* -

               Shining her enchanting, honorable smile at me,

               The unveiling of her black veil 

               Revealing a double truth and double justice,              

               She wisely shows we are not the only underdogs,

               That tragedy, as in all wars, is always on both sides. 

              

               Welcome Sulha! So, let's open the Pomegranate?

               Wait my friend, not yet, not yet.

                

               It is so much easier to pave the peace path 

               Arm in arm with hopeful Sulha -

               Two tragedies do not cancel each other -

               But it somehow makes it easier

               When we know the other side met

               Sulha's terms a long time ago. 

              

               Wait, don't open the juicy pomegranate yet!

               Now that you have given me the gift of your story 

               My brother and mutual victim too

               And revealed to me your heritage

               Under your veiling membranes, 

               I can identify with you in every ruby grain

               And you can identify with me -

               For we are in reality,

               On the same side of the present and of history. 

 

                Now, finally, we can open Sulha's Pomegranate

               And fully taste together her plentiful reconciliation treasures, 

               Her scarlet healing juices

               And her marvelous, velvety ruby grains.
                                          

                                            ***
               *Sulha:  Reconciliation, in Arabic.

                       Ada Aharoni
heb_but.gif (177 bytes)  

Ada Aharoni is an Israeli poet, writer and professor. Ada was born in Cairo, lives in Haifa, and is president of IFLAC: PAVE PEACE, the International Forum for Literature and Culture of Peace. She writes in Hebrew and English, and her works have been translated into Arabic.

 

Middle East Gateway