When the hurricane swirled and spread its deluge
of dark evil
onto the good green land
‘They’ gloated. The western skies
reverberated with joyous accounts:
“The tree has fallen!
The great trunk is smashed! The hurricane
leaves no life in the Tree!”
Had the Tree really fallen?
Never! Not with our red streams flowing forever,
not while the wine of our torn limbs
feeds the thirst roots,
Arab roots alive
tunneling deep, deep, into the land!
When the Tree rises up, the branches
shall flourish green and fresh in the sun
the laughter of the Tree shall leaf
beneath the sun and birds shall return
Undoubtedly, the birds shall return.
The birds shall return.

- Fadwa Tuqan (1917-2003), Palestinian poet