CELEBRATED poet Mahmoud Darwish, known as a most telling voice of the Palestinian people, who was awarded the Lenin Peace Prize, breathed his last on August 9, ending his struggle with a chronic heart disease. Born on 1941 in Galilee, that was razed to the ground by the Israelis, he wrote his first poem when he was 19. The impact of the Galilee attack, reinforced by the unending Israeli aggressive policies against Palestinians, is amply reflected in his poetry that is full of sympathy for Palestinians and contempt for Israel. He has been compared with Faiz Ahmed Faiz and W B Yeats. The incisiveness that Darwish showed while projecting the Palestinian question onto the world stage elicited a lot of appreciation. His personal life had much in common with the Palestinian tragedy. Saddled with a serious heart illness, he had an unstable, divorce-stricken marital life. On top of it, he had to grapple with the identity problem the Palestinian Diaspora faces. Little wonder his poetry reflected the Palestinian dilemma in a most sublime way. His works comprise over 30 books. In his death, Palestinians have lost an outspoken exponent of their cause. His voice is sure to echo as long as their struggle takes to bear fruit.