Exile

But I am the exile.
Seal me with your eyes.
Take me wherever you are -
Take me whatever you are.
Restore to me the color of face
And the warmth of body,
The light of heart and eye,
The salt of bread and rhythm,
The taste of earth... the Motherland.
Shield me with your eyes.
Take me as a relic from the mansion of sorrow;
Take me as a verse from my tragedy;
Take me as a toy, a brick from the house
So that our children will remember to return.
—Mahmoud Darwish. 

See the full text of this poem and two others by this Palestinian poet. 

I think we understand a people better when we read their poetry.