Heba Abu Nada, a brilliant Palestinian poet and novelist, was killed by an Israeli airstrike on her home in Khan Younes, Gaza, on October 20, 2023. To honor her memory and the thousands of other Palestinians martyred by the Zionist state as part of their genocidal assault on Gaza, we are co-publishing Huda Fakhreddine’s translation of her poem “Not Just Passing” alongside ArabLit.
from the article:
Not Just Passing
Yesterday, a star said
to the little light in my heart,
We are not just transients
passing.
Do not die. Beneath this glow
some wanderers go on
walking.
You were first created out of love,
so carry nothing but love
to those who are trembling.
One day, all gardens sprouted
from our names, from what remained
of hearts yearning.
And since it came of age, this ancient language
has taught us how to heal others
with our longing,
how to be a heavenly scent
to relax their tightening lungs: a welcome sigh,
a gasp of oxygen.
Softly, we pass over wounds,
like purposeful gauze, a hint of relief,
an aspirin.
O little light in me, don’t die,
even if all the galaxies of the world
close in.
O little light in me, say:
Enter my heart in peace.
All of you, come in!