Mijn Bedroefde Stad

Translation / Interpretation / Caption Text / Source

Dutch translation:

My Sad City

by Fadwa Tuqan

Translated by Charlie Huntington

______________________________

On the day of Zionist occupation

The day we saw the death and deception,

The floods fell back,

The windows to heaven closed,

And the city held its breath.

Day the waves retreated, day that 

The ugliness of the abyss

Exposed its face to the light.

Hope burned

As an agony of misfortune strangled

My sad city.

Gone are the children and songs;

Not a glimpse, not an echo.

The sorrow in my city crawls shamefully,

Staining her steps.

The silence in my city –

Silence like mountains at rest,

Like a dark night, a painful silence

Burdened

With the weight of death and defeat.

Alas! Oh, my sad, silent city

Are you thus at harvest time,

Your crops and fruits aflame?

Alas! Oh, what an end!

Alas! Oh, what an end!

_____________________

Source: 

https://www.swarthmore.edu/sites/default/files/assets/documents/linguist...