Arabic poem,
Author unknown, Translated and illustrated by Nahida Exiled Palestinian  People with green hearts
The colour of trees is the colour of their hearts
Their dreams… water pure
Their imagination… sky wide
 They are capable of infinite forgiveness
Have the ability to bathe in optimism
And to wash themselves in dreams to the very last drop
 People with green hearts
Don’t ever expect to be stabbed from the back
By a hand that once shook theirs
Their days and seasons are works of art painted with hope
They don’t learn easily from their mistakes
Instead, they keep repeating them like a child’s bad habits
They offer hearts around them infinite trust
They’re incapable of seeing the colour black in existence
People with green hearts
Come intimately near to those who pass them by in life,
So much so that they are glued to them
They cling to the minute details
Ever trusting of those around
Creative in finding excuses to the faults of others
 People with green hearts
Cling onto beginnings like mad
Reject endings fiercely
They can’t comprehend separation
They trick reality with a dream
The dream with an illusion
On the map of hope, they occupy vast areas
 People with green hearts
Don’t recognise mistrust or deception
Nor do they cause others to taste portrayal
They start with purity
And end up with faithfulness
Longing steals much of their time
They keep loyal to their tales until death
Yesterday has immense reverence in their lives
 People with green hearts
Play the role of peace doves
Spreading love on earth
Help in building abodes of joy
They hasten to mend the broken hearts
And talk with the voice of affectionAbout love and dreams
They make you feel that it’s them
Who invented the colour “white” in this universe
 People with green hearts
Hold fast to childhood, despite the passing of years
Their hearts forever young
Their souls never grow old, nor become polluted
Their faces reflects babyhood innocence
And their eyes mirrors truthfully their essence
They’re not good at hiding, or deceiving
And fail miserably in wearing masks
 People with green hearts
Never fail you when you need them
They are the first to cover your needs
When feeling overwhelmed; They are the first thing that you lay your eyes upon
The first who come to your rescue when drowned in sorrow
When you are suffocated they’d give you their breath
They’d make their lives a life ring thrown to you
 People with green hearts
When they love, they love passionately
When they are faithful, they are faithful passionately
When they get a shock, the get a shock passionately
And when they are broken, they are broken passionately
When they give, they give passionately
And when they cry, they cry passionately
 If you find yourself embraced By one of those with green hearts
Cling onto them… passionately
As they are a rare treasure In times of colour-shifting hearts
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