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All of Them

Qassim Haddad

Everybody said it was useless
Everybody said, “you’re trying to lean on sun dust”
that the beloved before whose tree I stand
can’t be reached
Everybody said, “you’re crazy to throw yourself
headlong into a volcano and sing”
Everybody said that salty mountain
won’t yield even one glass of wine
Everybody said, “you can’t dance on one foot”
Everybody said there won’t be any lights at the party
That’s what they all said
but everybody came to the party anyway


Qassim Haddad

from Language for a New Century: Contemporary Poetry from the Middle East, Asia and Beyond edited by Tina Chang, Nathalie Handal and Ravi Shankar (London & New York: W. W. Norton & Co, 2008)

translated by Sharif S. Elmusa and Charles Doria

Every effort has been made to trace the copyright holder. If you can advise us of the appropriate acknowledgement to be made please contact reception@spl.org.uk

Tags:

advice Bahrain parties resilience

About this poem

This poem, representing Bahrain, is part of The Written World – our collaboration with BBC radio to broadcast a poem from every single nation competing in London 2012.

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Qassim Haddadb.1948

Qassim Haddad was born in 1948. He did not finish his secondary education and is largely self-educated. A liberal-democratic activist, Haddad has been arrested, tortured and imprisoned for five years for his political beliefs. Haddad co-founded the Awal Theatre and...
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