the Nakba: ‘the Catastrophe,’ referring to the expulsion of the Palestinians from their homeland and the establishment in it of the State of Israel in 1948.

rababa: a folk instrument consisting of a sound box, long neck, and strings, played with a bow.

sandawitshat: sandwiches (a term taken from English and widely used).

shata‘ir: sandwiches (a term coined by the Arabic Language Academy to replace sandawitshat).

The Suspended Odes: seven poems by the greatest poets of pre-Islamic Arabia, which were engraved on plates of gold and suspended in the Kaaba at Mecca before the coming of Islam. They remain among the most highly regarded works of Arabic literature.

A Note on the Author

Mourid Barghouti was born in 1944 near Ramallah. He has published thirteen books of poetry in Arabic including a Collected Works (1997) and received the Palestine Award for Poetry in 2000. His memoir I Saw Ramallah was published in English in Cairo in 2000 and by Bloomsbury in 2004. A selection of his poetry, Midnight and Other Poems, was published in English in 2008. He lives in Cairo with his wife, the novelist and critic Radwa Ashour.

A Note on the Translator

Humphrey Davies has translated many Arabic books by a wide range of authors including Bahaa Taher, Khaled Al-Berry, Muhammad Mustagab, Yusuf al-Shirbini, Gamal al-Ghitani and Ahmed Alaydi. His translation of Elias Khoury’s Gate of the Sun was awarded the Banipal Prize, and that of Alaa Al Aswany’s The Yacoubian Building was voted Best Translation of 2007 by the Society of Authors.