Jrud Jbayl - Remote Heights of Jbayl District

Jrud Jbayl

Jbeel mitl l kub bil xeele majbule
Bi kaxba ttalj bidub w Nahr Ibrahiim jeere
Bi albo Adoniis w Xactarut, ka`anno mic deere
Iṡṡit ḣubbon l ḣaziin adiime, bi ddam maḣlule

Usṫura killa ḱayeel, kamaca l weede
Mni traab w sama, mnil mayy wil hawa
Wi ccams wil amar, wi njuum l layl l heede
Arḋ killa jameel, la ḣdud l baḣr wil fala

Btichad li zhur xa damm l jariiḣ l maskub
Bitnuḣ li xṡafiir min faw` ḋḋariiḣ l mankub
Ṡarḱit Xactarut nubu`a, w cakl l usṫura ṡura

Bitxabbir xan rrabiix, wil ḣubb bil maxmura
Bitbaccir bi Maryam xam tindub l Masiiḣ
Abil ma yiṫlax ṡubḣ yiḣke bi ccakl ṡṡariiḣ


Copyright June 16, 2009 Hicham Khalil Bourjaili
Our Lady of Lebanon, Waterbury, Connecticut, USA


English Version

Remote Heights of Jbayl District

The mountains are fashioned in the shape of an elevated cup
At their bottom the snow is melting and the River of Abraham (1) is gushing
Carrying Adonis and Astarte (2), nonchalant
Their sad love story is from old, tainted with blood

A myth loaded with imagination, caught by the valley
Made from dirt and sky, from the water and the wind
The sun and the moon, and the stars of the quiet night
The land gorges with beauty, till the border of the sea and free space

The flowers witness the poured blood gushing from the wounded
The birds are moaning from above the deserted tomb
The cry of Astarte is a prophesy, and the form of the myth is a metaphor

It heralds spring, and the love in the inhabited land
Preaches about Mary mourning the Christ
Before the morning rise speaking in open form


Notes:

1) Nahr Ibrahiim is the name of the river flowing in the Jbayl District valley from the snowy heights to the Mediterranean Sea. Its name means literally the River of Abraham. In the Spring Season when the snow melts, the river gushes abundantly and carries with its waters dirt from erosion and sediments. Down along the valley, these waters rich in nutrients for the soil have a reddish coloration, like blood. The symbolism is all natural: like the blood in the veins of living creatures, especially humans, the river is the blood spreading life in the valley, for the wild and cultivated land alike.

2) Adonis and Astarte are the names of Canaanite (also called Phoenician) deities mentioned in the mythology of Antiquity and celebrated in popular rituals at places of worship. Adonis is a young man and Astarte a beautiful young lady according to the myth. They were fiancés when Adonis was killed in the early spring by a wild boar on a hunting venture in the heights of Mount Lebanon above the State City of Jbayl, one of the oldest cities of the World if not the oldest. His blood and the tears of Astarte searching for her missing beloved fertilized the river, called nowadays the River of Abraham (see note 1). Every year the land would remember them again and the river would gush with water and blood. The myth influenced other mythologies from Antiquity like the Greek and Roman Mythologies. Adonis could also be identified with Apollo (Greek god of beauty and patron of the arts) and Astarte with Aphrodite (Greek goddess of beauty and love) and with Venus (Roman version of Aphrodite). Astarte is also known by the name Ashtar or Ishtar in Mesopotamia. For the inhabitants of the land, when Christianity took over old religions, the myth became a symbolic story from the past, grafted with the Faith in the true Adonis and Astarte, that is to say Jesus Christ and Mary. Abraham is the Father of the believers in the One and True God, Jews, Christians and Muslims alike. Jesus Christ and Mary are his descendants. Hence the River of Abraham springs with them as well. The renewal of the land in spring mirrors the Passion and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ who poured water and blood from his side when he was hanging on the cross and was pierced with the spear of the Roman soldier, according to the Gospel of the Apostle John.


Copyright July 26, 2009 Hicham Khalil Bourjaili
Our Lady of Lebanon, Waterbury, Connecticut, USA