Flower of cities

Fairouz's voice echoed through the speaker with deep sadness. It announces "the fall of love when El Quds fell", "peace is martyred in the homeland of peace" and "the fall of justice at the entrances to the city". She then states with determination that "peace will return to El Quds" and "with our own hands we will restore the splendour of El Quds".

When I heard this poem for the first time, I was 17 years old. I have known like all Arabs the bitter taste of defeat. When despair almost blocked all perspectives, this poem by the Rahbani Brothers appeared and Fairouz was a balm for wounds and a dose of resuscitation of the soul. There was sadness without any tone of despair, real hope far from dreams, and determination free from boasting and pretension. Poetry does not restore rights but strengthens the human being capacity to resist and fight to recover his rights.

Many poems were forgotten during this period, including the repetition of some poets saying that a single bullet is worth thousands of words". What shabby words! A bullet is worth millions of words in the poems of these idiots, because they are hollow and trivial words, and their owners have admitted it. The poem "the flower of the cities" and other poems of true poetry remain immortal. The word of one is more powerful than all the weapons of the world, because it maintains the firmness of the soul. If the soul remains steadfast, no one can ever defeat it. It’s the role of poetry and art in general. I remembered the words of the Iraqi professor, "The teacher who does not believe in word value is a false teacher", and I said to myself, "A poet who does not believe in word value is a false poet".

 

Abdellah Khammar

The second trimester: Second part

An extract taken from the novel: Entry bell to class