Ramallah

    Translated by Eliot Weinberger and Iona Man-Cheong

    in Ramallah

    the ancients play chess in the starry sky

    the endgame flickers

    a bird locked in a clock

    jumps out to tell the time

    in Ramallah

    the sun climbs over the wall like an old man

    and goes through the market

    throwing mirror light on

    a rusted copper plate

    in Ramallah

    gods drink water from earthen jars

    a bow asks a string for directions

    a boy sets out to inherit the ocean

    from the edge of the sky

    in Ramallah

    seeds sown along the high noon

    death blossoms outside my window

    resisting， the tree takes on a hurricane's

    violent original shape