« Between Rita and my eyes, a rifle
And he who knows Rita bows down
And offers a prayer
To the divinity radiating in her honey-colored eyes
I kissed Rita
When she was young
I remember how she pressed against me
And draped her loveliest braid over my arm
And I remember Rita
Just as a sparrow remembers its pond
Ah, Rita!
Between us, a thousand birds, a thousand images
Countless trysts
Priddled with bullets from a rifle
Rita’s name tasted like a festival on my lips
Rita’s body in my blood was a wedding celebration
And for two years, I lost myself in Rita
And for two years, Rita slept upon my arm
We swore an oath
Around the most beautiful chalice; we burned
In the wine of (our) lips
And we rose again.
Ah, Rita!
What could have drawn my eyes away from yours—
Save for sleep
And honey-colored clouds—
Before that rifle?
Once upon a time…
Oh, silence of twilight…
At dawn, my moon migrated, far away
Into those honey-colored eyes
And the city
Swept away all the bards… and Rita.
Between Rita and my eyes, a rifle. »(Mahmoud Darwich)

This poem illustrates the youthful romance between the Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish and the Israeli dancer Tamar Ben-Ami, who inspired the character of « Rita » in his work. Their love affair reportedly took place in Haifa in the early 1960s.
Tamar Ben-Ami was a young Israeli dancer with whom the poet fell in love, despite the geopolitical tensions.
This thwarted love inspired poignant poems by Mahmoud Darwish, notably « Rita and the Rifle. »
A passionate yet impossible affair experienced in Haifa in the early 1960s between the Palestinian poet and the young Israeli woman.
Their story came to an end when Rita began her military service in the Israeli army.