O Tree!

The week of December 15 to 21 was Tree Week in Lebanon, and Radio Lebanon presented for this annual occasion, so dear to our hearts as Lebanese, a series of varied programs aimed at bringing out the importance of the tree and at working to keep it green, pouring forth fruit and hope!

A large number of men and women of letters and poets took part in these programs, among them Mrs. Salwa Mahmasani Moumina, the author of this piece:

Tree Week closed with a splendid festival held in the Sanayeh Garden on Sunday, December 21, under the patronage of President Chamoun.

O tree, but for you time would never have smiled, nor life been sweet, nor the eye rejoiced. But for you imagination would never have soared, nor the soul found rest, nor the mind ranged among its thoughts.

When life frowns, and weariness weighs down living, and care burdens the daily bread, you are the shade of souls and the refuge of hearts from the blaze of vexation.

Companionship is among your branches, and magic in your lashes and your lids, and radiance in your smiles and your colors, and paradise in your shelter and between your arms, O tree.

Like a singing bird, the joyful heart flutters from place to place, calling out along your paths; and like a homeless bird, the sorrowful heart searches for its solace and its refuge in your dwellings and your meanings. From you comes the remedy, and in you is the cure, O tree.

I wept for you in winter, when you stood bare and grieving, trembling under the bitter cold of the snows and the icy blast of the winds. And I watered you from my heart's blood when you were athirst for hope under the heat of the suns and the scorching of the simoom — yet neither the heat of tears warmed you nor the water of hearts quenched you.

But you were patient and strong under the bitterness of the days and the shakings of the nights, and pains did not kill the force of life within you. There was warmth in your wood, and hardness in your roots, and life in your depths. You were stronger than man against the events of time.

Every year there come from you blossom and abundance, gladness and joy, renewal and a lesson for man down the ages.

Filth and mire do not defile you, nor does the soil drag you down to the depths of lowness and the meanness of the mire; rather, you draw out of it a pure substance with which your flowers glow and your fruits grow sweet, and by which your boughs rise high and lift you toward the sky, O tree.

You are a blessed being bearing goodness: you do not harm those who harm you, nor harbor evil against any creature; rather, you are forever growing and striving toward the heights, feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, and purifying the air.

You have taught us fortitude and steadfastness, generosity and open-handedness, loftiness and forgiveness, tenderness and solidarity. You have granted us livelihood and beauty. You have taken us by the hand into the open country of ease and the field of plenty; and you have been to the universe a tender mother, giving, showing mercy, preferring others, loving all her children alike, the good and the bad, without taking payment, without coveting wage or reward, and without ever betraying or divulging the secret of that great and holy love.

You have spoken to us, silent, a sweet and moving speech; you have confided to us, murmuring, a tender confidence; you have inspired us, whispering, an inspiration lofty and radiant; and you have breathed upon us perfume and fragrance, varied and resplendent — and breasts opened to it in their widest spaces and their softest quarters, their deepest corners and hidden places, thrilling with delight and casting off their cares.

You are the written book, and the composed poem, and the lawful intoxication, and the pleasure pure of every fault or slip.

And in your gay green color we have rest for our eyes, and refreshment for our spirits, and spring for our lives, and the beloved cedar for our flags.

You are the ornament of existence, and the symbol of life, and the emblem of triumph.

So remain a guardian of purity and beauty, of goodness, blessing, and plenty, O tree.