REVENGE translated by Peter Cole, Yahya Hijazi, and Gabriel Levin

   At times ... I wish 
   I could meet in a duel 
   the man who killed my father 
   and razed our home, 
   expelling me
   into
   a narrow country. 
   And if he killed me, 
   I’d rest at last, 
   and if I were ready— 
   I would take my revenge!

   But if it came to light,
   when my rival appeared, 
   that he had a mother 
   waiting for him, 
   or a father who’d put
   his right hand over 
   the heart’s place in his chest 
   whenever his son was late 
   even by just a quarter-hour 
   for a meeting they’d set— 
   then I would not kill him, 
   even if I could.

   Likewise ... I 
   would not murder him 
   if it were soon made clear 
   that he had a brother or sisters
   who loved him and constantly longed to see him. 
   Or if he had a wife to greet him
   and children who 
   couldn’t bear his absence 
   and whom his gifts would thrill.
   Or if he had 
   friends or companions, 
   neighbors he knew 
   or allies from prison 
   or a hospital room, 
   or classmates from his school …
   asking about him 
   and sending him regards.

   But if he turned 
   out to be on his own— 
   cut off like a branch from a tree— 
   without a mother or father, 
   with neither a brother nor sister, 
   wifeless, without a child, 
   and without kin or neighbors or friends, 
   colleagues or companions, 
   then I’d add not a thing to his pain 
   within that aloneness— 
   not the torment of death, 
   and not the sorrow of passing away. 
   Instead I’d be content 
   to ignore him when I passed him by 
   on the street—as I 
   convinced myself 
   that paying him no attention 
   in itself was a kind of revenge.

--Taha Muhammad Ali