The Sound of Peace in Two Voices (Two Women).
Part Ivoice 1: Out of this haunted land words rise up
voice 2: maspik, enough, kefaya
v1: kefaya, enough, maspik
v2: In this land, the ground is haunted and each wind has a name
v1: shard, rih teqil, maltam (pause) shard
v2: shard: vent chaud charge de sable, a hot sand-filled wind
v1: rih teqil
v2: rih teqil: vent violent et dangereux, a violent and dangerous wind
v1: maspik, enough, kefaya
v2: this cannot be changed.
v1: Ley? Why? Lama?
(Pause)
v2: There is no peace without recognition
Between the earth mixed with bone and blood and the sea we share and fear, the winds shift and shift again there is no peace without memory
v1: without memory
v2: and these turbulent times offer no peace
v1: no peace
v2: without recognition
v1: without recognition
v1 & v2: I know you/v 1: 'airfaki
v1 & v2: I know you/v2: ani makira otakh
v1 & v2: This is the sound of peace
v1: kol ha shalom
v2: the sound of peace/sott el salaam
Part II
v2: Two women
v1: two women, between land and sea,
v2: In the middle of the night, Each hears a small voice calling her,
v1 & v2: "Mama" "Ima'"
v2: this small voice says
(Pause)
Some part of us has let them clown, some part of us is no longer
"mama"
v1: "Ima'"
v2: to anyone.
(Pause)
v2: And a small voice from within us utters the word [the other voice enters faintly: mama, ima] because we need some comfort, some protection, no betrayal.
v1: No more betrayals
(Beat)
v2: Our children are missing
v1 : eifo, where, fayn?
v2: and each cries,
v1 & v2: "mama," "Ima"
v2: because we no longer understand the word for god well enough to utter it.
(beat of silence)
Part III
v1: This is the sound of peace/sott el salaam
v2: the sound of peace/ko/ha shalom and there is no peace without recognition
Inside each, the winds shift, but a deep hollow remains, this they each know.
Now each moment is measured by absence,
v1: absence
v2: long, unending.
v1: gun shots
v2: mortar,
v1: rocks
v2: small tires
v1: fear
v2: Barbed wire
v1: Humiliation
v2: Check points
v1: death
v2: rubble
v1 & v2 (1) "Mama" "Ima" (2) ley? Why? lama?
v2: we've come to stand beside each other,
v1: I know you.
v2: in black,
v1: And there is no peace without recognition
v2: each taking the other's hand,
v1: this is the only small comfort left.
v2: I stand with you
v1: And the ground continues to shift beneath our feet
v2: and still they stand together once a week
v1: between the living and the dead
v2: the bones, the skin, the fine hair, the contours of each other's palms, this we now know.
v1: this is the sound of peace/sott el salaam
v2: for mourning no sound is enough
(beat)
v1: Kefaya, enough, maspik
v2: They trace the contours of the missing.
V1: maspik, enough, kefaya
Part IV
v2: They have nothing else, nothing else without the other
v1: this is the sound of peace/kol ha shalom
v2: the shifting winds, each with its own name: shard, rih teqil, (beat) maltam
v1: shard, rih teqil, (beat) ahh maltam
v2: together they conjure up another wind
v1 &v2: Maltam
(Beat)
v2: Maltam: bon vent sans direction determinee, a benevolent wind with no determinate direction.
v1: and so they recite to themselves, in their familiar and similar tongues, a litany, ah invocation, a re-membering. These winds they each conjure up to remember. Winds that come to them from the same sea.
v1 & v2: shard, rih teqil, maltam
v2: between their unending mourning and the respite they find in other's hands, once a week, each remembers, each bears witness to the other's sorrow.
v1: I know you, ani makira otakh, 'airfaki
v2: I know you, "airfaki, ani makira otakh
v1: And out this haunted land words rise up
v2: enough, kefaya, maspik
v1: Here, on this land, where the chill of disavowals unnerves them, each woman is the other's weather station. Silently, each invokes Maltam
(Beat)
v1: Maltam/their prayer
v2: Maltam: A benevolent wind, with no determinate direction, this is the one they are invoking these days, this benevolent wind, the kind of surprise the other can live with.
v1: Maham
v2: Maltam, the haunted ground echoes
v1: Maltam
v2: each holds the other's hand and bears witness
(Beat)
The winds shift this is the sound of peace/kol ha shalom/sott el salaam and there is no peace, no peace without recognition
v1: Salaam, peace, shalom
v2: Shalom, peace, salaam
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| Author: | Habib, Nadia |
|---|---|
| Publication: | Resources for Feminist Research |
| Article Type: | Poem |
| Geographic Code: | 1USA |
| Date: | Mar 22, 2004 |
| Words: | 778 |
| Previous Article: | Uncle Sam's Strike-Tease. |
| Next Article: | All the Rage: The Story of Gay Visibility in America. |