Independence Day Festival, presented by the Cedars of Lebanon Folkloric Groupe - Sydney 1988
-1-
Where are you?
I'm asking you... Answer me!
Has your eye ever been able
To fight back tears?!
And the fire... Oh Independence!
Is burning in my heart
From people who worshipped money
And on the threshing floor of treachery
They gathered a nation and its people
So that the broker could pamper
The Lebanese people!
-2-
They Sang to you...
Until the reeds grow hoarse
And turn green from the sound of anger
O word that will never be forgotten
No matter how much sorrow wounds us
And no matter how much the owl hoots
The sun of truth will remain
And we will walk in your light
Until we reach Sannine
Until we reach Beirut
To cedars that never die
For Jbeil, the cradle of letters
For the shores of Naqoura
For the olive trees of Koura
For Tyre, the mother of light
For Baalbek, the quarry
For the South, which does not kneel
It makes the cannon kneel
Stay, O Independence
A celebration and joy for children
Playing in the sun
And decorating the playground
-3-
And the Cedars of Lebanon band
Sang for you by abandonment,
You left a people humiliated,
Rejoicing at the dawn's arrival,
And you, the dawn itself,
Awaken your windows,
Absent ones rejoiced in you,
And danced to the beat of drums.
-4-
Where are you,
Where are you?!
With the pride of our hearts
You never became a dragon
Nor did you agree to slaughter us
No matter how much the crow of separation
Strips us of our dignity
We are the people of Lebanon
Countries change
Crowns fly away
And we remain...
**
