Grief beyond consolation

Wounds of memory, ulcerated.

A crack in the heart stitched by spiderwebs.

Scratches of failure stir a purgatory within me.

A mourning hall opens inside my chest.

No oxygen reaches my lungs.

No heartbeat trembles the winter of my heart.

No candles light the nights of our estrangement.

Behind you,

every tear disfigures my face with its bleeding.

The scent of the past regurgitates the pain of two hearts,

still waiting for the train of life.

Between me and my last breath—

thorns of carnations,

tales of bondage,

paths and stories embraced by the stars.

حزن لا يُعزَى
جروح ذكرى، تقرحت
شرخُ قلبٍ خاطتهُ شِباكُ العناكِب
خدوش إخفاقات تبثُ البرزخ داخلِي
يُفتح بيت عزاء داخلِي
لا أكسجين يلامسُ رئتاي
لا نبضات تُرعِد شتاءَ قلبي
لا شموع تضيء ليالي غربتنا
يضمحل وراءَك
كل دمع نزف مشوهاً وجهي
عبق الماضي يجتر آلام قلبينَا
مواصلاً انتظار قطارَ الحياة
بيني والرمق الأخير أشواك قرنفلٍ
حكايا قيدٍ
مساراتٌ وحكايا تعانقُها النجوم

About

Dana Flaifl is a nineteen-year-old poet in Gaza who dreams of a simple, safe life where she can achieve her dreams. She writes: “Last year, I was supposed to finish high school and begin university. But war stole my father, leaving the six of us without our moon. All I have left is writing—and through it, I resist.” Her poems have appeared in Al-Yamamah and Arab Lit & Arab Lit Quarterly.

Najwa Sadi Juma is a Palestinian writer, poet, translator, educator, and women’s rights activist. She is a member of the General Union of the Palestinian Writers and a Board Member and the Head of the Cultural Forum at the International Palestinian Creativity Foundation. She has published two short‑story collections—Shut Off and Wings of Fear. She participated in editing and translating 48: Palestinian Short Stories with a group of Palestinian translators. In 2021, she was awarded the prestigious Jean‑Jacques‑Rousseau Fellowship from Akademie Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart.

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