Poem
brahim Tukan was born in Nablus, Palestine in 1905. He loved poetry when he was young.
He had his elementary education at al-Rashadiyya al-Gharbiyya School in Nablus, then he went to al-Motran School in Al-Quds. He continued his studies in the American University in Beirut (1923-1929). He worked as a professor of Arabic Literature at Al-Najah National School (now University) in Nablus. Then he worked as a professor at the American University in Beirut.
He published his first poem when he was eighteen. He was very sensitive and of a weak structure. He had stomach problems and died in May, 1941.
The poem posted here was the antheme that Palestinians used in the Revolution of 1936-1939 against the Bristish Mandate.
My Homeland
Ibrahim Tukan
My homeland
My homeland
Glory and beauty
Sublimity and prettiness
Are in your hills
Life and deliverance
Pleasure and hope
Are in your atmosphere
Will I see you?
Safe and comfortable
Sound and honored
Will I see you?
In your eminence
Reaching the stars
My homeland
My homeland
***
The youth will not get tired
Their goal is your independence
Or they die
We will drink from death
But we will not be slaves to our enemies
We do not want
An eternal humiliation
Nor a miserable life
We do not want
But we will return
Our great glory
My homeland
My homeland
***
The sword and the pen
Are our symbols
Not talking nor quarreling
Our glory and covenant
And a duty to fulfill it
Shake us
Our honor
Is an honorable cause
A raised flag
O, your beauty
In your eminence
Victorious over your enemies
My homeland
My homeland