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THREE

Poem For Ghassan Kanafani

Ghassan Kanafani: "Men in the Sun"

Ghassan, when the hatred of the enemy exploded, your life ended.
They thought that in killing you, they had disrupted our path.
Instead, our determination to continue along that path increased,
The pen in one hand and the gun in the other
Your presence among us increases every day.

Ghassan, we remember well and never forget
That the path is not easy and that few are worthy of it.
Ghassan, we remember well that you are the one who said,
"He is wrong who says that we are the generation of revolution.
Rather we are the generation who will give it life."

And the homeland which you were far from,
You were the closest of people to it
The homeland in which you should have been living,
Was living in you.
You were the homeland,
You were the revolution,
You were the pen and the gun.