Kol HaMusica by Najwan Darwish [English translation]

Kol HaMusica

1

Our enemies call the piano ‘psanter’ …

How long have these psanters been striking 

in the wake of the sleeping dead?

How long have they continued their transmission from

the station ‘Kol HaMusica’

while their planes shell the Southern Suburb  of Beirut 

and bomb a three-room home in Jabalia Camp?

The psanters

that never ceased to hunt him down 

to the darkness of the other bank.

The psanters

that now strike with an  icy drone. 

The psanters

The psanters

He will carry on calling  them in the enemy’s language 

until the musical instrument  desists from partaking  in the crime.

2

‘The piano is the grandchild of the Qanun.’

This is a historical fact,

it has nothing to do with these psanters 

that now slash my face with razor blades.

The occupiers do not care for stories of blood or dynasties,

to them the piano is but a foundling they call the ‘psanter’.

3

Sometimes I think that soldiers killed the pianists,

and generals are now playing inside the records.

Translated by Lubna Fahoum