At times \u2026 I wish
\nI could meet in a duel
\nthe man who killed my father
\nand razed our home,
\nexpelling me
\ninto
\na narrow country.
\nAnd if he killed me,
\nI\u2019d rest at last,
\nand if I were ready\u2014
\nI would take my revenge!<\/p>\n
*<\/p>\n
But if it came to light,
\nwhen my rival appeared,
\nthat he had a mother
\nwaiting for him,
\nor a father who\u2019d put
\nhis right hand over
\nthe heart\u2019s place in his chest
\nwhenever his son was late
\neven by just a quarter-hour
\nfor a meeting they\u2019d set\u2014
\nthen I would not kill him,
\neven if I could.<\/p>\n
*<\/p>\n
Likewise \u2026 I
\nwould not murder him
\nif it were soon made clear
\nthat he had a brother or sisters
\nwho loved him and constantly longed to see him.
\nOr if he had a wife to greet him
\nand children who
\ncouldn\u2019t bear his absence
\nand whom his gifts would thrill.
\nOr if he had
\nfriends or companions,
\nneighbors he knew
\nor allies from prison
\nor a hospital room,
\nor classmates from his school \u2026
\nasking about him
\nand sending him regards.<\/p>\n
*<\/p>\n
But if he turned
\nout to be on his own\u2014
\ncut off like a branch from a tree\u2014
\nwithout a mother or father,
\nwith neither a brother nor sister,
\nwifeless, without a child,
\nand without kin or neighbors or friends,
\ncolleagues or companions,
\nthen I\u2019d add not a thing to his pain
\nwithin that aloneness\u2014
\nnot the torment of death,
\nand not the sorrow of passing away.
\nInstead I\u2019d be content
\nto ignore him when I passed him by
\non the street\u2014as I
\nconvinced myself
\nthat paying him no attention
\nin itself was a kind of revenge.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Nazareth<\/em> ______________________________<\/p>\n \u201cRevenge\u201d by Taha Muhammad Ali, translated by Peter Cole, Yahya Hijazi, and Gabriel Levin, from Hymns & Qualms: <\/em>New and Selected Poems and Translations<\/em><\/a> by Peter Cole. Copyright \u00a9 2017 by Peter Cole. Used by permission of Farrar, Straus and Giroux. All Rights Reserved<\/p>\n ______________________________<\/p>\n
\nApril 15, 2006<\/em><\/p>\n![\"Hymns-and-Qualms\"](\"https:\/\/lithub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Hymns-and-Qualms-1-199x300.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n