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From: ghassoun@augean.eleceng.adelaide.edu.au (George Hassoun) Date: 5 August, 1993 Subject: ``Dead Are My People'' (Part 1 of 5) - By Gibran Khalil Gibran GIBRAN-GIBRAN-GIBRAN-GIBRAN-GIBRAN-GIBRAN-GIBRAN-GIBRANG I DEAD ARE MY PEOPLE (Part 1 of 5) I B ( Written in exile during the famine in B R Syria [and Lebanon] in world war I ) R A A N Gone are my people, but I exist yet, N - Lamenting them in my solitude.... - G Dead are my friends, and in their G I Death my life is naught but great I B Disaster. B R R A The knolls of my country are submerged A N By tears and blood, for my people and N - My beloved are gone, and I am here - G Living as I did when my people and my G I Beloved were enjoying life and the I B Bounty of life, and when the hills of B R My country were blessed and engulfed R A By the light of the sun. A N N - My people died from hunger, and he who - G Did not perish from starvation was G I Butchered with the sword; and I am I B Here in this distant land, roaming B R Amongst a joyful people who sleep R A Upon soft beds, and smile at the days A N While the days smile upon them. N - - G My people died a painful and shameful G I Death, and here am I living in plenty I B And in peace.... This is deep tragedy B R Ever-enacted upon the stage of my R A Heart; few would care to witness this A N Drama, for my people are as birds with N - Broken wings, left behind by the flock. - G G I I B ``The Prophet of Lebanon'' B R ( To be continued...) R A A N N - - GIBRAN-GIBRAN-GIBRAN-GIBRAN-GIBRAN-GIBRAN-GIBRAN-GIBRANG [Above poem was quoted from a book entitled "A Treasury of Kahlil Gibran" (note the spelling and the name order), edited by Martin L. Wolf and translated from Arabic by Anthony Riscallah Ferris, The Citadel Press, New York, 1951.] | |
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