Guests on the Sea

A short visit. The journey of the guests on the sea was supposed to take place only in a short period of time. But they want something from the sea or shall I say they are expecting something from it. Some kind of approval or agreement is what they are waiting for. And they are eager to get it for they know they deserve to have it for themselves.

As written by Mahmoud Darwish, a Palestinian poet, I can visualize the guests as the Palestinians traveling in search of a home that they could finally call their own. They had put a great emphasis to the fact that they were a group of people, surely, a nation but they came to this country not from a country. With a sarcastic manner, they just put to it that they came from pomegranates. They sprung out from the seeds of that certain fruit which is not possible for they were humans and not plants. They were unsure of their visit for they were confronted by the big issue of having a home to return to. They didn’t love the idea of being guests, for more than that they wanted to be called home owners. They wanted to live for something, to fight for something that is theirs. If they get it, they are more than willing to leave. That’s why they were wondering how the gifts from their ancestors went undetectable. And sadly, now they are perishing from this problem.

They said, our visit has an objective – a solid one. They realized that they were precious creatures like the shells and stars in the sea. They’re not just anything or something. That’s why they believed that they could really get through. And finally, at the end of every day, their only wish was to go home to a country that they may call their own.

More mind-boggling than that of all the short stories we have taken up in class that was how I could describe the Guests on the Sea. And it was not easy for me to state every reaction I had, for I had those ideas that were just too complicated to be put into words. Like the straightforwardness of their aim, it’s just too difficult to elaborate further more.