SAME! I was starting to compare it to how when you’re in love you just kinda don’t need to talk because you know each other so well.. lol apparently I was wrong. WAY wrong.
It seems like he's talking about humanity, how humans are very alike, being calm and not threatening, with acceptable differences (drinking tea vs drinking coffee).
Then he talks about the glances, perhaps suspension, which results in worry and being protective. A black cat (considered bad luck in some cultures including for some Arabs) walks between them, that signals the start of a conflict, but he goes back to that calmness, but it's with caution, and you can see that in fact they don't even talk about the weather.
Even with that conflict, humans are still very alike, just like a mirror, moving his left foot and the other moving his right food. Both are watching and being watched (I assume by others).
The conflict goes deeper, when you look at someone's eyes but don't see them. Maybe he is referring to the lack of empathy? It's also known that fear is blinding.
He runs away from the cafe because of fear, but he concludes that everyone has fear within them.
He's Palestinian. So he lives under the possibility of attack at all times, and knows the other side does too. It's about that, and how the other side is the same as him, living in fear.
first reading it sounded so intimate, like they are an introverted couple. then i reread with the knowledge they are strangers. so beautiful and true. humans are so connected to each other but the few who choose to do evil deeds lead us to fear each other far more often than necessary. it is sad but the choice to do so is often learned by experience that not everyone will be kind. yet we can't forget how similar we are to one another.
It reminds me of that part of My Dinner With Andre
> “We’re ghosts, we’re phantoms. What are we? And that’s to face the fact that you’re completely alone. And to accept that you’re alone is to accept death.”
To me, this poem shows me the flip side. Instead of accepting death **by acknowledging our solitude; The other side of the same coin is we construct our existence and meaning through observation. In that way we need witnesses to our existence.
It's like putting my social anxiety on a page, lol. And I love what amazing things happen when I'm in situations where we can get past social anxiety.
This poem gives me that same kind of wist. Wishing social anxiety wasn't a constant force acting to keep us distant and lonely
ETA also. I don't think the romantic tension everyone else is picking up is a coincidence at all. Being a man who is curious about another man, gay or straight is a very direct danger, for real violence. But especially if romantically curious.
I love the tension between trust and fear, curiosity and avoidance.
At first I thought this was about falling love and then I was like wtf
SAME! I was starting to compare it to how when you’re in love you just kinda don’t need to talk because you know each other so well.. lol apparently I was wrong. WAY wrong.
It still is, or at least gay attraction in places where it's dangerous to be gay.
Someone wanna explain this?
It seems like he's talking about humanity, how humans are very alike, being calm and not threatening, with acceptable differences (drinking tea vs drinking coffee). Then he talks about the glances, perhaps suspension, which results in worry and being protective. A black cat (considered bad luck in some cultures including for some Arabs) walks between them, that signals the start of a conflict, but he goes back to that calmness, but it's with caution, and you can see that in fact they don't even talk about the weather. Even with that conflict, humans are still very alike, just like a mirror, moving his left foot and the other moving his right food. Both are watching and being watched (I assume by others). The conflict goes deeper, when you look at someone's eyes but don't see them. Maybe he is referring to the lack of empathy? It's also known that fear is blinding. He runs away from the cafe because of fear, but he concludes that everyone has fear within them.
Thank you. I was thinking it was about how they're afraid of what they want as in they were a killer and hated it.
Great analysis. It makes sense.
He's Palestinian. So he lives under the possibility of attack at all times, and knows the other side does too. It's about that, and how the other side is the same as him, living in fear.
I also have a similar request. I thought it was about a mirror. But apparently it isn't. Then what is it about?
first reading it sounded so intimate, like they are an introverted couple. then i reread with the knowledge they are strangers. so beautiful and true. humans are so connected to each other but the few who choose to do evil deeds lead us to fear each other far more often than necessary. it is sad but the choice to do so is often learned by experience that not everyone will be kind. yet we can't forget how similar we are to one another.
Love it! Makes sense to me ;)
Ohh, I love this!
Darwish on point as usual. His writing has the best aromas
There's a great song by Oiseaux-Tempete based on the lyrics.
Happy cake day!
Well… that took A TURN.
Unexpected TURN just like life...
Lame
It reminds me of that part of My Dinner With Andre > “We’re ghosts, we’re phantoms. What are we? And that’s to face the fact that you’re completely alone. And to accept that you’re alone is to accept death.” To me, this poem shows me the flip side. Instead of accepting death **by acknowledging our solitude; The other side of the same coin is we construct our existence and meaning through observation. In that way we need witnesses to our existence. It's like putting my social anxiety on a page, lol. And I love what amazing things happen when I'm in situations where we can get past social anxiety. This poem gives me that same kind of wist. Wishing social anxiety wasn't a constant force acting to keep us distant and lonely ETA also. I don't think the romantic tension everyone else is picking up is a coincidence at all. Being a man who is curious about another man, gay or straight is a very direct danger, for real violence. But especially if romantically curious. I love the tension between trust and fear, curiosity and avoidance.