These concrete walls like looming towers
Their barbed wires a poisonous kiss on the horizon
Steely thorns upon a rose
See its beauty but you cannot touch
See freedom, but it’s crowned with thorns
The Sun of God, violated once more
A garden drenched in clouds and toxic shadows
From concrete walls like looming towers
Nothing but false powers
Temporary infractions lasting over sixty years
Over sixty years
Dividing, stealing, raping, maiming
But never conquering
A war between the Star and the Sun
But darkness cannot prevail
The walls have begun to crack
The unconquered are awaken by the sound of their own strength
And resilience
These concrete walls will fall
Leila Khaled Mouammar is a Palestinian, born-in-exile as a settler in Toronto. She got her BA from McGill University in 1997 and worked for a year in Palestinian refugee camps with UNICEF in Lebanon, before continuing her MA studies in the Humanities at NYU where she graduated magna cum laude.
In 2002, she started her PhD studies at Concordia University in Montreal, working as a teaching and research assistant in the departments of interdisciplinary sexuality studies and anthropology. She also worked part-time as a sous-chef in a ritzy Westmount restaurant with a Bangladeshi master chef, and as an English tutor for two incredibly interesting Japanese men, while also doing community organizing around the issue of Palestine and the rights of indigenous people and immigrants/refugees in Canada.
After completing her first year at Concordia with a near perfect GPA, she was suspended by the Rector for refusing to do a community service sanction for participating in a demonstration against Benjamin Netanyahu on September 9th 2002.
Leila went to Palestine, fell in love, and even got married. She now lives in Nazareth where she writes - when she isn\'t translating and editing other people\'s writing to pay the bills.
