It's really a great honor to be here in this fabulous building
we got a tour of this morning, and a great joy and pleasure
to be part of the tradition of the Poetry Center.
I've been in the States now for a month, giving
readings of medieval poetry.
And Taha and my wife Adina arrived just last night
and traveled very far from Jerusalem--
Adina from Jerusalem, Taha from Nazareth.
It's not such an easy trip.
Over breakfast this morning, I told the Honors class today--
Taha met me over breakfast we haven't
seen each other for a couple of months and he said,
if you want to eat a camel, it's best
to chop it up into little pieces first.
Translation-- we didn't need any commentary,
but we understood this man-- if you want to fly from Tel Aviv
to Tucson, first you should work your way across the country
slowly.
If you're Taha's age--
how old are you now?
Yeah.
How old are you?
Well, 780 years.
[LAUGHTER]
The planes are not made for someone who's 780 years old,
but he's trying.
And he had all day to rest.
And so we'll give it our best shot tonight.
I will read.
Taha will talk to you a little bit as a cup of coffee
he just had takes effect.
And he will read in Arabic, and then
I'll read the poems in English, and we'll see how it goes.
Let me just get my watch out so we can see where we are.
OK.
And we'll start with a poem from So What, called "Warning."
Good.
قبل كل شيء أريد أن أشكر هؤلاء الذين جعلوا هذا الاجتماع ممكنًا
He wants to thank everybody first
for coming and for convening this gathering.
وأشكر هؤلاء الذين قدموا
بالإنجليزية أفضل.
OK.
OK, otherwise I have to be a simultaneous translator.
إلى هواة الصيد وشُداة القنص!
لا تصوبوا غداراتكم إلى فرحي
فهو لا يساوي ثمن الخرطوشة تُسدد باتجاهه
فما ترونه أنيقًا وسريعًا كغزال
يفر في كل اتجاه كديك حجل
ليس فرحًا صدقوني
فرحي لا علاقة له بالفرح.
"Warning lovers of hunting and beginners seeking your prey.
Don't aim your rifles at my happiness, which
isn't worth the price of the bullet you'd waste on it.
What seems to you so nimble and fine, like a fawn,
and flees every which way like a partridge isn't happiness.
Trust me, my happiness bears no relation to happiness."