End of a Talk with a Jailor – poem by Samih al-Qasim

From the narrow window of my small cell,

I see trees that are smiling at me

And rooftops crowded with my family.

And windows weeping and praying for me.

From the narrow window of my small cell—

I can see your big cell!

– Samih al-Qasim, (Palestinian poet, who died August 19, 2014)

– from Sadder Than Water: New and Selected Poems, translated by Nazih Kassis