Slit Lips by Samih Al-Qasim

I would have liked to tell you 
The story of a nightingale that died. 
I would have liked to tell you 
The story...
                 Had they not slit my lips. 

- Samih Al-Qasim - 

May 11, 1939 - August 19, 2014 

"Resistance" poet Samih al-Qasim dies at 75 
© The Electronic Intifada 
Arab literary world mourns Palestinian poet Samih Al-Qasim 
© ASHARQ AL-AWSAT 

Rest in Peace, Samih Al-Qasim: Resistance Poet of Palestine (1939-2014) 
by Harriet Staff 
© The Poetry Foundation