WEBVTT

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OK.

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We'll read a poem called
"Fooling the Killers,"

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which was the title poem
of one of Taha's books.

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And the poem is about a friend
of Taha's from childhood,

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a boy named Qasim, who shows
up in a lot of his work,

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in stories and
poems and so forth.

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And I think Taha wants to tell
you a little bit about who

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Qasim was, yeah?

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Well, Qasim is my age,
my neighbor, my friend,

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inseparable.

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I'd say 24-year-old, both of us.

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But Qasim, exactly like
a coin with two faces.

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Like the life with
two real faces.

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The coin, this face is writings
and the other [INAUDIBLE]..

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The life itself, there is
happiness, friendship, health,

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good eating, good
looking, good--

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and then there is all ages,
canes, diseases, [INAUDIBLE]

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and [INAUDIBLE].

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Qasim is the life itself.

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Good [? thieves ?] see
through life in Qasim.

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He loves me so much, but
he is ready to change me

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for five cigarettes
and a packet of sugar.

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I don't know him,
but I like him.

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Because I like the life itself,
and I like the [? British ?]

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and [INAUDIBLE].

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And I'm sorry to tell
you that every poem here

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and there, when I started
to read it or to hear it,

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I feel it myself.

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Qasim used to say
something very terrible.

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Used to say something
very beautiful.

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Used to do things
very angrily, but used

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to do things [INAUDIBLE].

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From his bad things that he
used to see, anything he's seen.

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To read to his mother,
especially to his mother.

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And what his mother
always said--

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تقول مت يا "قاسم".
في داهية يا "قاسم".

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But once, he leaves [INAUDIBLE].

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[? He leaves ?]
[INAUDIBLE],, and there's

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two eggs from under the hen.

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Which is, they're sitting 21
day to make the egg chicken.

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He took 15 and went to the
shopkeeper, and put there.

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He gathers two bags of
sugar, and [? he went ?]

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with the wind.

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Everybody understand?

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He stole eggs from under
the hen, and the eggs were--

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he stole them before
they were ready.

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The hen hadn't sat on
the eggs long enough.

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A tax collector came
to the [INAUDIBLE]..

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Came to the head of the village.

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[INAUDIBLE] went to
[INAUDIBLE] him the food.

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He went to the shop
and bought the 15--

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Eggs.

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His wife said, it blood.

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This is not eggs.

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When he opened the eggs,
there's blood in the eggs.

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This is a sign that they
haven't sat long enough.

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The man went to the
mother of Qasim.

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Told her what happened.

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Oh, he leaves
[INAUDIBLE],, and she

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went to a high window
open to the God of wisdom.

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There's one over there.

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Opened her [INAUDIBLE],, her
old like [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH],,

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and put it, oh, God--

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She opened her, the
top of her dress.

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يا الله عاقب "قاسم" وعذبه بقدر ما رضع من ثديي

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[? Hang ?] Qasim and
make him suffer as if--

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please give him, give me--

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Make Qasim suffer as
long and as severely

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as my breasts gave him milk.

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And this is at
morning at 4 o'clock--

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in this time, in 4 o'clock,
no taxis, no horses.

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And God himself
listened to the people.

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And every day she would do this.

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[LAUGHTER]

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1948 he went to the [INAUDIBLE].

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Qasim entered my poetry,
my story, because I

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write short stories and poetry.

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And here I want to see
what's happened to him.

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I [INAUDIBLE].

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He tells me, Taha.

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I will go to do [INAUDIBLE].

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Go, see him.

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Please.

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He found him.

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Qasim [? said, ?] Taha.

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He said yes, he's a good guy.

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That's all, but he put
you in his [INAUDIBLE]..

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So I said it to more
than 10 [? languages. ?]

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I know that he is a good guy.

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That's what he told you?

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What's more?

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He said, nothing.

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Nothing more.

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And I see his mother.

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Now she is, she is 95 years old.

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What's she do?

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Everyday at the 4:00 morning,
she opened the [INAUDIBLE]

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and opened her empty [INAUDIBLE]
until يا الله عذب "قاسم" بقدر ما رضع من ثديي

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And still she doing the same.

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[INAUDIBLE] from England
invited me to be [INAUDIBLE]..

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[? I think ?] usually
[? there ?] are good people,

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good-hearted people.

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They give you a hotel,
food, and sleep.

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Just like here.

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Like here.

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But I took 20 English
pounds, two papers,

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to buy something for
my wife as a gift.

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Two tins of [? Israel. ?]
After we finish,

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after we're [? cooking, ?]
I went to the airport.

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There is Qasim.

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I saw him.

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Qasim!

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He said--

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He saw Qasim at the
airport sentinel.

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Qasim!

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He said, Qasim, I like you.

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I'm your friend.

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He said, I know that
you're a good guy.

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That's all.

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Good guy.

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[? Hey, Taha, ?] this
needs to be short.

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Have you money?

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Money?

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Qasim asked him, he said,
do you have any money?

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Two, I--

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Here you go.

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One for you, and one
for-- he took his

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and took the other one.

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And Taha, see you, ugly good.

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[INAUDIBLE]

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Qasim!

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Qasim-- he goes.

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[LAUGHTER]

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Then I look for a
window in this time.

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[LAUGHTER]

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Went there, took my old,
ugly time, opened my fleece

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and says, Qasim,
my God, make Qasim

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suffer as long and as severe
as his mother milked him.

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This is Qasim.

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But to see [? who it was. ?]
In America,

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the critics say
creative writings

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have to be these two things.

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One in life itself, the real,
and the other in imagination.

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Not only in the life is to
be like camera recorder,

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and not imagination only.

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It would be nonsense.

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And Qasim, and the story
of Qasim, and the story I

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told you was two bits.

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One in the life itself, the
other one in the imagination.

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But this is a poem about Qasim.

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Qasim.

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"قاسم"! تُرى أين أنت الآن؟

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أنا لم أنسك خلال هذه السنين الطويلة
طويلة كأسوار المقابر

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دائمًا أسأل عنك العشب وأكوام التراب

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أأنت حي؟
بعكاز، بهيئة، بذكريات

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هل تزوجت ولك أولاد؟

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أم قتلوك على مداخل الصفيح؟

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فلما تزل "قاسم" الصبي الذي يركض ويضحك
ويقفز عن السناسل

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يحب اللوز
ويبحث عن عشاش العصافير؟

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حتى إن كانوا يا "قاسم" قد فعلوها وقتلوك

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فيقيني أنك ضحكت على قاتليك
كما ضحكت على السنين

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فهم بالتاكيد لم يجدوا جثتك على كتف الطريق

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لم يعثروا عليها لا على مصبات الأنهر
لا على الرفوف

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ولا على طريق الحج،
ولا تحت الأنقاض!

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ولأن أحدًا لم يرك وأنت تُخفي جسمانك

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فما من أنسي سيعثر عليك

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ما من جهة ستقع على عظمة منك

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أو إبهام يخصك
أو فردة حذاء بقياس قدمك

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لقد ضللتهم يا "قاسم"!

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لقد حسدتك دائمًا يا "قاسم"

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على حُسن اختبائك في الغميضة

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التي طالما لعبناها
حُفاةً في الأمسيات

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ونحن أطفال قبل أربعين سنة.

00:11:34.533 --> 00:11:35.450 align:middle line:90%
"Fooling the Killers."

00:11:35.450 --> 00:11:38.480 align:middle line:90%


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Qasim,

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I wonder now where you are.

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I haven't forgotten you
after all these years,

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long as the graveyard
wall is long.

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I always ask the grass
of the field about you,

00:11:55.280 --> 00:11:57.800 align:middle line:90%
and the dirt paths.

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Are you alive with your
poise, your cane and memories?

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Did you marry?

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Do you have a tent of
your own, and children?

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Did you make it to Mecca,
or did they kill you

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at the foot of the Hill of Tin?

00:12:14.180 --> 00:12:17.640 align:middle line:84%
Or maybe you never
grew up, Qasim,

00:12:17.640 --> 00:12:22.290 align:middle line:84%
and managed to hide
behind your mere 10 years.

00:12:22.290 --> 00:12:24.420 align:middle line:84%
And you're still
the same old Qasim,

00:12:24.420 --> 00:12:26.340 align:middle line:84%
the boy who runs
around and laughs

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and jumps over fences,
who likes green almonds

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and searches for birds' nests.

00:12:32.820 --> 00:12:38.380 align:middle line:84%
But even if they did it,
Qasim, if, shamelessly,

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they killed you, I'm certain you
fooled your killers just as you

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managed to fool the years.

00:12:48.570 --> 00:12:52.260 align:middle line:84%
For they never discovered your
body at the edge of the road,

00:12:52.260 --> 00:12:55.470 align:middle line:84%
and didn't find it
where the rivers spill,

00:12:55.470 --> 00:13:00.060 align:middle line:84%
or on the shelves at the morgue,
and not on the way to Mecca,

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and not beneath the rubble.

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As no one saw you
concealing your corpse,

00:13:06.900 --> 00:13:11.610 align:middle line:84%
so no one will ever
set eyes on you,

00:13:11.610 --> 00:13:16.890 align:middle line:84%
and no earthly breeze
encounter a bone of your body,

00:13:16.890 --> 00:13:24.710 align:middle line:84%
a finger of your hand, or even a
single shoe that might fit you.

00:13:24.710 --> 00:13:27.397 align:middle line:90%
Qasim, you fooled them.

00:13:27.397 --> 00:13:30.020 align:middle line:90%


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I always envied you, Qasim, your
skill at hiding in the games

00:13:37.100 --> 00:13:41.000 align:middle line:90%
of hide-and-seek we played--

00:13:41.000 --> 00:13:46.250 align:middle line:84%
barefoot at dusk--
forty years ago--

00:13:46.250 --> 00:13:50.170 align:middle line:90%
when we were little boys.

00:13:50.170 --> 00:13:51.000 align:middle line:90%