"The Stranger Stumbles on Himself in the Stranger" (Mahmoud Darwish)

We are one in two /

There’s no name for us, woman, when the stranger

stumbles upon himself in the stranger. Of our
garden behind us we have the force of shadow. So slow
what you want of your night's land, and conceal
what you want. We came in a hurry from the twilight
of two places at one time, and searched together
for our addresses: Go behind your shadow,

east of the Song of Songs, a shepherd of sand grouse,

you’ll find a star dwelling in its death, then climb a neglected

mountain and you’ll find my yesterday completing its cycle in my

tomorrow.

You’ll find where we were and where we’ll be together,

we are one in two /

Go to the sea then, man, west of your book,
and dive lightly, lightly as if you were carrying
yourself at birth in two waves,
you'll find a forest of water grass and a green sky
of water, then dive lightly
lightly as if you were nothing in anything,
and you will find us together . . . 
we are one in two /
We need to see how we were here, you
stranger, as two shadows opening and closing on what
has been shaped of our shape: a body disappearing then reappearing
in a body disappearing in the mystery of the eternal
duality. We need to return to being two
to embrace each other more. There is no name for us, woman,
when the stranger stumbles upon himself in the stranger!

― Mahmoud Darwish, from The Butterfly's Burden

tr. by Fady Joudah