We cultivate hope

Here on the slopes of hills, facing the dusk and the cannon of time
Close to the gardens of broken shadows,
We do what prisoners do,
And what the jobless do:

We cultivate hope.

Mahmoud Darwish died on Saturday at age 67. He was famous throughout the Middle East and widely respected for his non violent quest for peace, and as Palestines national poet.

Delivering harsh criticisim for the factional fighting between Hamas & Fatah which he described as 'a public attempt at suicide in the streets,' he gave a voice to Palestines dreams of statehood.

Amidst all the chaos that surrounded him he did, as the opening lines of his poem, Under Siege state, live a life which cultivated hope.

His voice of prophetic wisdom will be much missed.