I believe in the power of poetry, which gives me reasons to look

The great Palestinian poet, Mahmoud Darwish, born into exile and raised in the shadow of loss, gave voice to his people and to all who wander without a homeland. Out of this deep well of sorrow, he once declared: “I believe in the power of poetry, which gives me reasons to look ahead and identify a glint of light.” In these words, we find not only the conviction of a poet but the creed of a soul who refused to surrender to despair. For in poetry, Darwish discovered not escape, but strength—the power to imagine a future, to hold onto hope, to see a spark of brightness even in the midst of darkness.

To believe in the power of poetry is to believe that words can be more than decoration, more than fleeting beauty. For Darwish, they were a lifeline. Poetry became the means by which he transformed grief into song, displacement into vision, anger into endurance. In the silence where bombs and exile sought to erase his people, his poetry preserved memory, identity, and hope. Thus, when he speaks of poetry giving him “reasons to look ahead,” he is declaring that language itself can lift the soul above despair and carry it into the possibility of dawn.

History shows us how poets have often carried this same power. In ancient Greece, Homer’s epics gave a fractured people a shared story, a reason to look forward as one nation. During the Harlem Renaissance, Langston Hughes and his companions gave African Americans in a time of oppression the words that turned sorrow into resilience. And in the dark prison cells of apartheid South Africa, poems passed between captives kept the dream of freedom alive. In each case, poetry was not luxury but survival, a “glint of light” guiding souls through shadows.

For Darwish, this belief was not theoretical but born of lived reality. Exiled from his homeland, imprisoned for his words, he could have given in to bitterness. Yet through poetry, he found a way to transform suffering into beauty. His verses carried the weight of longing, but also the light of hope: the idea that no matter how dark the present, the future could still hold redemption. His belief in poetry was, therefore, a belief in life itself—an affirmation that the human spirit can always reach beyond pain toward light.

The meaning of this quote is clear: poetry is a vessel of hope. It may not change politics overnight, nor end wars with a single stanza, but it keeps alive the flame of endurance within the human heart. It teaches us to see light where others see only darkness, to carry forward reasons for living when despair tempts us to give up. This is why Darwish says he “believes” in it—not as an art alone, but as a faith, a source of sustenance and salvation.

The lesson for us is both simple and profound. In times of trial, seek not only solutions of power, but also sustenance of spirit. Poetry, whether read or written, has the power to renew the heart, to remind us of beauty when the world seems barren, to preserve hope when everything else seems lost. When you are weary, take up a poem and let it guide your eyes toward the horizon. When you are strong, write your own verses, so that your words may become light for another.

Practical wisdom must follow. Make poetry a part of your daily life. Read lines of strength and beauty in the morning, so your spirit begins in light. Write down your own reflections at night, even if simple, for in naming your truth you keep despair at bay. Share poetry with others, for a word given at the right time can be as life-saving as bread to the hungry. And remember always: in poetry lies not only art, but the glint of light that leads us onward through the dark.

Thus, carry Mahmoud Darwish’s wisdom within you: to believe in poetry is to believe in hope. For poetry transforms pain into endurance, silence into voice, and despair into the promise of dawn. And as long as there are poems, there will always be light enough to walk forward.