Friday Poem

A Clarification

Judas did not mean to “betray” me—he never even knew such big words.
He was simply “a man of the market,” and all he did—when the buyers came—was sell me.

Was the price too low?
Not at all. Thirty silver coins are no small thing for a man made from dirt.

My dearest friends were all Judas, were all: men of the market.

by Najwari Darwish
from Anthologie Poetique
Al-Feel Publications, Jerusalem, 2012
translation Kareem Abu-Zeid