Illustration: “Red Anemone,” by Diana Cornelissen
By George N. El-Hage
Columbia University
As the leaves of October,
I scatter myself over your blazing inferno;
Your divine and succulent body
From its forbidden summits
Down to its ravenous depth and fertile valleys.
As a summer cloud bearing spring,
I shower gentle kisses upon your flushed lips
Whose color gives the rose its crimson
Whose benevolent banks are a bed of red anemones. Continue reading You, Beirut and the Children
By George N. El-Hage
1-
Thirty years of prosperity, patriotism, harmony and florescence, ruined in one year, it is true that destroying is easier than building, but it is also true that a year in which the masks fell and the buffoons stepped from their disguises into the shadows, was more real to them and to us than the thirty years they masked themselves in falsehood, hypocrisy and exploitation.
2 –
There were those who sold Lebanon and lost their families, their children and their villages. Then the strangers spit in their faces and cursed them. Their shekels were plundered, the price of treason. Do not ask those of their honor and patriotism. How can they give you what they do not possess?
3 –
The youth of Lebanon who abandoned their books and embraced rifles, know that they will triumph, because those who know how to live life, know how to live death and resurrection. Continue reading Lebanese Hymns of Love and War
by Ameen al-Rihani (1876-1940)
1 – Oh Freedom: When would you direct your face towards the East? When would your light merge with the light of this bright moon so it would rotate with it around the earth and enlighten the darkness of every oppressed people?
2 – When would the religious chasms be obliterated and sectarianism be trampled under the boots of civilization? When would we form the organization of tolerance and build the church of forebearance?. When would we raise and establish the school and journal of tolerance?
3 – I am the flower that bloomed out of the despair of the Prophets. A flower that flourished and then withered and finally its buds were scattered until the seeds of life gushed out of her heart and the winds carried it to the four corners of the earth. Continue reading Selections from al-Rihaniyyat
[Illustration by Kahlil Gibran.]
by George El-Hage
I am coming from the distant past
From illusions we fabricated
And words we spoke in faith.
I am coming on a pair of legs
Paralyzed by deep, yellow sleep—
A long and yellow sleep;
It murders the voice of my conscience
And muzzles it,
But the dragon guards it
With his claws
And prevents my escape. Continue reading Journey of Illusion
[Illustration: “Refugees†by Palestinian artisit Ibrahim Hijazy, 1996.]
by George El-Hage
Today, the seventh day of the month of Death, I decided to end our relationship. I decided to pack my suitcase and leave. Everything in our spring-like room I left for you: the velvet drapes, old books, notebooks of memories and red roses. All the silk pillows, and the ivory chairs, and the chandelier of carnations, the big bed in the other corner of the room remain for you. I took with me one bleeding suitcase which is my heart. It was so filled with surprise and sorrow that I did not have room for one little pencil. I left empty-handed except for an armful of ashes. I held dejection to my breast, the harvest of a full year of love. I embraced it with anguish and washed its forehead with dew from my eyes. Continue reading The Book Of Death #28
By George Nicolas El-Hage
Poetry and art are twins. Both are the offspring of suffering and joy. Gibran translated Blake’s “Innocence and Experience” into a “Tear and a Smile.” Nevertheless, the unending drama of human existence unfolds itself in the pages of both men. Only the elected and gifted soul is capable of creativity, of reading the world differently, and of rebelling against evil clothed in a lamb’s garment. Art knows no boundaries. It transcends all national limits and is only satisfied with the universal. There, time and place lose their ability to imprison the artist in a closed cell. The inspired poet becomes a winged soul floating over life, embracing the infinite. It is in the midst of this vast expanse where the responsibility of the artist becomes eternal and his mission turns holy that we can speak of Kahlil Gibran and William Blake together. Continue reading Gibran Kahlil Gibran: A Timeless and Universal Vision
[Illustration: “In the Shade of the Arches,” Joseph Matar]
by George El-Hage
I vowed to rise in the eyes of the sun
To have its light wear me as morning
To build a castle in yesterdayÂ’s country
And become the Easter of your holidays.
I relate to you a myth about me
With love and my hands I build your home
I visit you in poems and thoughts
With the warmth of your eyes I light my tomorrows. Continue reading My People
by George El-Hage
I am Beirut
Look at me
DonÂ’t you remember?
I am Beirut
The Jewel of eternity
A boat of emeralds and rubies
A lighthouse built in marble
DonÂ’t you remember?
I am the bride of all cities
Mother of ships and alphabets
And home for those
Who are homeless
DonÂ’’t you remember?
Sole daughter of the East
Sun-colored daughter
Of the brown Levant.
Continue reading Beirut Speaks