‘The Translator’s Betrayal,’ a Poem by Mohammed Abu Lebda

“I mute the songs that should be sung, / And veil the cruelty of death.”

The rubble of residential buildings after Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza neighborhood of al-Zahra, October 19, 2023. (Photo by Mustafa Hassona/Anadolu via Getty Images)

By Mohammed Abu Lebda

Mohammed Abu Lebda is a Palestinian poet and translator from Rafah, Gaza. His poetry has been published in Democracy in Exile, the journal of DAWN, and he has spoken about life under siege in interviews with NPR’s Here & Now and Democracy Now!. He continues to write from Gaza.