Jerusalem in Two Eyes By Palestinian poet Rashid Hussein (1936–1977) In New York, thousands of miles from Palestine, the poet Rashid Hussein encountered a Palestinian woman undergoing treatment for her eyes in hospital. It was June 1967, and news had arrived of Israel's occupation of East Jerusalem. From the meeting of these two experiences, a woman's struggle to recover her sight and a homeland's loss of its beloved city, Hussein composed one of his most poignant poems, Jerusalem in Two Eyes. Hussein himself introduced the poem with these words: “In New York, a Palestinian sister was in hospital receiving treatment for her eyes. And the fall of Jerusalem on the fifth of June. And this poem.” Born in the Palestinian village of Musmus in 1936, Rashid Hussein was a poet, journalist, teacher and an influential voice in Palestinian resistance literature. His poetry expressed the experiences of Palestinians living under Israeli military rule, the pain of dispossession and the enduring attachment to their homeland. He left Palestine for the United States in the 1960s and died tragically in a fire in his New York apartment in February 1977, aged just 40. Jerusalem in Two Eyes was published in March 1969, on page 28 of the Beirut literary magazine Al-Adab, founded by Suhail Idris, in an issue devoted to Palestinian resistance and the fedayeen revolution. What makes this poem so moving is the way Hussein transforms the colour of a woman's eyes into the living geography of Palestine. Within them, he sees palm trees and grapevines, his mother's patience, his father's orchards, the mountains, the harvest and the threshing floors. He sees Jerusalem not simply as a city under occupation, but as an inseparable part of Palestinian memory, family and identity. Years later, in a recording dated 1986, Bahraini artist Salman Zeman gave the poem a musical voice, carrying Hussein's words beyond the printed page. Today, I am sharing the original 1969 publication, Salman Zeman's musical interpretation and my own illustrated tribute to this beautiful work. Jerusalem in Two Eyes Rashid Hussein, 1969 English translation The colour of your eyes is palm trees, The colour of your eyes is grapevines, The colour of your eyes, like my love for Jerusalem, Is precious, a thousand times precious. And patient is the colour of your eyes, like my mother, And sorrowful, like my plains, And stubborn, like my mountains. The colour of your eyes is my father planting apples And figs, And saying: “Plant! For what you plant will become our children.” And singing: “O nights! O nights!” The colour of your eyes is Saladin, Without his men, And the torment of your eyes is the torment Of men who are men in name alone. The colour of your eyes is a harvest, The colour of your eyes is threshing floors, The colour of your eyes is peace, Through which my homeland travels. And brief is the colour of your eyes, like my life, And wounded, like my poetry, And long, like my imprisonment. The colour of your eyes is doves and eagles In my imagination. Original poem: Rashid Hussein, Al-Adab, March 1969, p. 28. Musical interpretation: Salman Zeman, composition and vocals, recording dated 1986.

Painting titled "Unconditional Playdate" by Palestinian (Canada) artist Dalia Elcharbini.