WORDS ON THE LINE presents a series on revenge in its many manifestations, starting with the poem "Revenge" by Palestinian poet Taha Muhammad Ali (1931-2011). I heard Ali read this poem on Friday, September 29, 2006, at the eleventh Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival, then in Waterloo Village, Stanhope, New Jersey.
After hearing that short poem live twenty years ago, and reading it many times since, I have become convinced that the word revenge, as well as most words in our lexicon, is subject to vast interpretations. The poet posits that revenge need not be an act of violence or any sort of overt retribution, for that matter. Showing mercy to the most hateful criminal can also be an expression of revenge. It evokes Joseph's forgiveness of his brothers after they sold him into slavery, or Valjean's abandoning the opportunity to dispose of his nemesis Javert in Les Miserables.
You can hear the poem in Arabic by Ali and in English by one of his translators, Peter Cole, as I heard it in that moment live here. Please listen.
