8 Beautiful Poems That Mention Lebanon

Poetry enthusiasts who are looking for new verses to fall into, we found some of the most beautiful poems that mention our beloved Lebanon.

Note: This article includes stanzas from poems about Lebanon. Some of these poems are originally in Arabic or French.

1. “Goodbye, Lebanon” by May Ziadeh

“Goodbye, Lebanese mountains.

I’m going far
from your pink rose garlands,
your bright red satin strawberries.

Egypt called in a serious voice,
and already my boat’s rocking
bears new fruit—

But sea, whisper your lullabies
please, because I hurt so much.
Soft waves of home, sob for me.

Don’t go away so quickly, my love.
Leaving you, my chest is all wound,
wholly tender.”

2. “It Was Beirut, All Over Again” by Etel Adnan

“It was Beirut, all over again,
it was Beirut on the radio
El Salvador on TV
it was Sabra & Shatila
in the memory
it was Usulutan in the heart

It was Beirut, again,
when we thought Beirut went
to rest, but Beirut will not sleep
until El Salvador sleeps”

3. “A Threnody for the Karbala of Beirut” by Faiz Ahmad Faiz

Beirut—Portrait of the feast of the world

Beirut—Heart of the garden of Paradise

Those shattered mirrors once

The laughing eyes of children

Are now the twinkling of stars

The nights of this city are illuminated

And the land of Lebanon is resplendent

Beirut—Portrait of the feast of the world

Whose face is decorated with blood

Ravishing beyond beauty

Now this city’s lanes

Are lit with their dazzling splendour

And the land of Lebanon is luminous

Every desolate house, every single ruin

Is more magnificent than Darius’ palace

Every fighter more valiant than Alexander

Every daughter is Laila’s equal in beauty

This city existed from the beginning of time

This city will exist till the end of time

Beirut—Heart of the land of Lebanon

Beirut—Portrait of the feast of the world

Beirut—Heart of the garden of Paradise

4. “You Have Your Lebanon and I Have Mine” By Khalil Gebran

Who among them dare to say, “My life was a drop of blood in the veins of Lebanon, a tear in her eyes or a smile upon her lips”?

Those are the children of your Lebanon. They are, in your estimation, great; but insignificant in my estimation.

Let me tell you who are the children of my Lebanon.

They are farmers who would turn the fallow field into garden and grove.

They are the shepherds who lead their flocks through the valleys to be fattened for your table meat and your woolens.

They are the vine-pressers who press the grape to wine and boil it to syrup.

They are the parents who tend the nurseries, the mothers who spin the silken yarn.

They are the husbands who harvest the wheat and the wives who gather the sheaves.

They are the builders, the potters, the weavers and the bell-casters.

They are the poets who pour their souls in new cups.

They are those who migrate with nothing but courage in their hearts and strength in their arms but who return with wealth in their hands and a wreath of glory upon their heads.

5. “Beirut, the Mistress of the World” by Nizar Qabbani

“Beirut, the Mistress of the World
We confess before the One God
That we were envious of you
That your beauty hurt us
We confess now
That we’ve maltreated and misunderstood you
And we had no mercy and didn’t excuse you
And we offered you a dagger in place of flowers!
We confess before the fair God
That we injured you, alas; we tired you
That we vexed you and made you cry
And we burdened you with our insurrections”

O Beirut,
The world without you won’t suffice us
We now realize your roots are deep inside us,
We now realize what offence we’ve perpetrated”

Arabic version:

6. “My Lebanon” by Edna K. Saloomey

I dream of Lebanon by an azure sea;
Wave-kissed shores, and rocky glades;
Snowcaps on mountains, glistening gorgeously;
O sweet-scented pines’ serenades.

I see a land laden with fruits of the earth;
A tropical jewel ablaze
With myriad flowers and wee children’s mirth.
Rainbow sunsets prolong their days.

Purple dusk is tinted by a lustrous moon
And broidered with a million stars.
For lullabies—the sea plays a crooning tune
Of golden notes on silv’ry bars.

Blessed of Christ, O, Lebanon, my paeans
Echo the lyrics of sages.
Thy beauty is lovelier than gossamer dreams.
Thy glory shall crown all ages.

7. “The Female of the Species” by Hala Alyan

They leave the country with gasping babies and suitcases
full of spices and cassettes. In airports,

they line themselves up like wine bottles.
The new city twinkles beneath an onion moon.

Birds mistake the pebbles of glass on the
black asphalt for bread crumbs.

If I drink, I tell stories about the women I know.
They break dinner plates. They marry impulsively.

When I was a child I watched my aunt throw a halo
of spaghetti at my mother. Now I’m older than they were.

In an old-new year, my cousin shouts ‘ana bint Beirut’
at the sleeping houses. She clatters up the stairs.

I never remember to tell her anything. Not the dream
where I can’t yell loud enough for her to stop running.

And the train comes. And the ‘amar’ layers the stones
like lichen. How the best night of my life was the one

she danced with me in Paris, sharing a hostel bed,
and how sometimes you need one knife to carve another.

It’s raining in two cities at once. The Vendôme plaza
fills with water and the dream, the fountain, the moon

explodes open, so that Layal, Beirut’s last daughter,
can walk through the exit wound.

8. “Memory for Forgetfulness” by Mahmoud Darwish

“Here, within her, I live,
A banner from my own shroud.
Here, I leave behind what’s not mine.
And here, I dive into my own soul,
That my time may start with me.
Let Beirut be what it wants to be.
She will forget me,
That I may forget her.

Will I forget? Oh, would, oh, would I could
This moment bring back my homeland
Out of myself! I wish I knew what I desire
I wish I knew!
I wish I knew!”