Praise for the High Shadow

Praise for the High Shadow” is a long poem by Mahmoud Darwish written in the year (1983 AD) and the publisher called it a documentary poem. The poet opens it with “A sea for the new September. Its autumn is approaching the doors… A sea for the bitter anthem. We have prepared the entire poem for Beirut. A sea for midday. A sea for the banners of doves. For our shadow, for our individual weapon. A sea for borrowed time.

In this poem, the poet Darwish departs from the traditional poetic model towards a structure based on semiotic tactics, in an attempt to create an emotional climate sympathetic to the event. The event here in the poem is based on describing the situation in Beirut during the Lebanese civil war, the position of the Palestinian person within the city, and the Arab position on the issue “The fall of the mask. Arabs obeyed their Romans. Arabs sold their souls. Arabs… and were lost. The mask fell (…) If it weren’t for these bastard states, Beirut would not have been sand. Beirut – no Beirut – our image. Beirut – our wall. Either it is or it is not. (…)”. Thus, the poem presents itself as a collection of different events and situations that require the poet to describe images of misery, wretchedness and war, moving from one circle to another. With this poetic act, he reveals to us an overwhelming feeling of longing for one’s roots on the one hand, and a sense of self-alienation in the midst of the present that continues to flow. Without the world caring about the ongoing war, the siege, displacement and killing.