Draft:Joseph Harb
| Name | Joseph Harb |
|---|---|
| Born | 1944 |
| Place of Birth | Southern Lebanon |
| Some Works | Acacia Tree
The King of Bread and Rose |
Joseph Harb is one of the most prominent Christian poets of Lebanon whose poems have transcended the borders of Lebanon.
Birth
He was born in 1944 in the village of Al-Mamari from the Zahrani district in southern Lebanon to a Christian father and a Sunni mother[1], he studied at the Antonin School, studied Arabic literature and law at the Lebanese University, completed his education, and worked at Radio Lebanon.
Activities
Among his famous poems sung by famous Arab singers are "Labeyrot", which begins with the verse "Labeyrot from my heart, greetings", "Hubaytik nasit al-nawm", "Lama alabab", "Warqo al-asfar", "Asamina", "Aswarat al-arous", "Zali tool", "Blil o shati", "Khalik bilbeit", "Rah nbqa sawa", "Fiken tanso", "Al-Bawwab", "Ya Qonat Sha'abiya". He served as the head of the "Lebanese Writers Union" from 1998 to 2002 and received many honorary awards, including: the Literary Creativity Award from the Arab Thought Foundation and the first Lebanon Literature Award from the Lebanon Trade Council in the United Arab Emirates. He then started working at Radio Lebanon in 1966, when he wrote the program "With the Sunset". He wrote the program "With the Morning", and wrote many television drama programs, including: "The Last Days", "Sell Your Breath", "Sa'id Arab", "Quraysh", "Bitter Leaves of Time", and "Ash and Salt".
Works and Books
He published his first book in 1960 titled Virgins of the Temples.
He has many poetry collections, including:
Acacia Tree
The King of Bread and Rose
Interest in Imam Hussein
He had written the elegy of the Head of Hussein 35 years ago during Muharram for Radio Lebanon. In this poem, with poetic, very heavy and beautiful prose, he spoke of the tragedy of the Lord of Martyrs with the land of Karbala. This piece begins as follows:
“O Karbala, scatter the fragments of plants, and from the soft leaves of pelicans and the white wings of doves, weave the fabric of a shroud, and hollow out the eyelids to the depth of the house of tears. Night has approached, and the body of Hussein, this heavenly sentence, longs for a peaceful sleep between two crescents of angels' wings.”
Joseph Harb writes: “There is such a connection between the head of Christ atop the cross and the severed head of Hussein that it is as if they are one. Between the head of Yahya in the basin and the head of Hussein atop the spear; between the vinegar of thirst on the cross [and] the salt of thirst in Ashura; between the Zaynabs of Hussein and the Marys of Jesus, and those who stripped the garment of Christ from his body atop Golgotha were the same ones who plundered the shirt of Hussein in Karbala. The lusts that were in the vile existence of Herod were the same lusts that boiled in the existence of Yazid, and the dancer who demanded the head of Yahya was the same state that ordered the beheading of Hussein. State and dancer, the dancer of the state, the state is a dancer!”
This poet writes in part of one of his poems: “Gentlemen, my Christianity is not complete without Hussein! And any creed—whether heavenly or non-heavenly—if it does not have a Husseini station, is an earthly religion that lacks much of the heaven's paradise, and any truth has no end except perplexity and misguidance unless its means is Husseini, meaning either truth or martyrdom.”