Fadwa Touqan, one of the most distinguished figures of modern Arabic literature, died in December 2003, at the height of the second Palestinian intifada, when her ancestral hometown of Nablus was under siege. Wahsha: Moustalhama min Qanoon al Jathibiya (Longing: Inspired by the Law of Gravity) was one of her last poems, written when she was almost bedridden.