Until that moment, I did not know how much I loved you.
The musicality of your fingers
That greet each Sabah with Fayrouz.
That weave windows
for the arrows of Gibran’s children
to burst across your bright blue skies
Towards the dreams of their dunya.
Until that moment, I did not know how much I loved you.
My arrow now a boomerang.
The pain of your parting pierces its
way through my body.
Each curved crevice
Each dashed dream
Marks the absence of you.
A lifetime of wearing thorned skin.
Until that moment, I did not know how much I loved you.
I weep that the hands of my own
countrymen poisoned you. That we held
their hands as they poisoned you.
That we burnt the arrows of Gibran’s
children. Because we could not believe in
their dreams like you do.
And now we watch you bleeding out on the
beds of your byoot. Your scream galloping
clouds of anguished orange – the true colour
of “freedom” in this balad.
And we finally begin to comprehend what
our skies could be without you
A Sabah without her sun.
A Fairuz without her song.
A Dunya without her sit.
Until that moment, I did not know how much I loved you.
But now I do
And now I dare to
Dream you
I dare to
Read your stories right to left
I dare to
Break my boomerang
I dare to
Carve it back into an arrow
I dare to
Shoot it up
towards my blue skies
right back to you
so Fairuz can sing each Sabah
to bayt al dunya
Beirut.
Explanations:
Balad = Country.
Bayt = Poetry verse; Home.
Byoot = plural of Bayt.
Dunya = World.
Fayrouz = Turquoiz, Famous Lebanese singer.
Sabah = Morning; famous Lebanese singer.
Sit al Dunya = Mother of the world, famous nickname of Beirut.
