Quotes

I call out to you, my people

I firmly clasp your hands,

I kiss the earth beneath your feet

and declare: I sacrifice myself for you.

I give you the light of my eyes as a gift.

I give you the warmth of my heart.

The tragedy I live

is my share of your own.

I call upon you,

I firmly clasp your hands.

In my land I never was disgraced,

never lowered myself.

I always challenged my oppressors,

orphaned, naked and with bare feet.

I felt my blood in my own hands,

never lowered my flag.

I always protected the grass

on my ancestors' graves.

I call out to you, my people,

I firmly clasp your hands.

— Tawfiq Zayyad, 1966 (as translated by Mohammed Sawaie in The Tent Generations: Palestinian Poems)

This poem was also the basis of a famous Palestinian nationalist song: https://youtu.be/ec2yB6nMGxM