Mahmoud Darwish's Last Poem: "I Don't Want for This Poem to End"

Mahmoud Darwish's last poem, "I Don't Want for This Poem to End," will be appearing in the last issue of Al karmel, the journal that had been founded and edited by Mahmoud Darwish since 1981. Issue number 90 is the last one, put together by Palestinian critic Hassan Khader. The demise of Al Karmel is a loss that reminds us of our bigger loss in the death of Darwish. Here is the poem in Arabic followed by my translation:

لا اريد لهذي القصيدة ان تنتهي'

'لا اريدُ لهذي القصيدة ان تنتهي ابدا
لا اريد لها هدفاً واضحاً
لا اريد لها ان تكون خريطة منفى
ولا بلدا
لا اريد لهذي القصيدة ان تنتهي
بالختام السعيد، ولا بالردى
اريد لها ان تكون كما تشتهي ان
تكون:
قصيدة غيري. قصيدة ضدي. قصيدة
ندِّي...
اريد لها ان تكون صلاة اخي وعدوي.
كأن المخاطب فيها انا الغائب المتكلم فيها.
كأنَّ الصدى جسدي. وكأني انا
انت، او غيرَنا. وكأني انا آخري!'

"I don't want for this poem ot end"

I don't want for this poem to ever end
I don't want for it a clear target
I don't want it to be the map of an exile or a country
I don't want for this poem to end
with a happy ending, or with death
I want it to be as it desires to be:
Someone else's poem, my opponent's poem, my equal's
poem...
I want it to be the prayer of my brother and my enemy.
As if the one addressed in it is me the absent speaker.
As if the echo is my body, as if I am
You, or other than us, as if I am my other.