Omar al-Farra

A great and a very popular Syrian poet, he was born in 1949 in Palmyra, then he moved to live in Homs, he started writing poetry at the age of thirteen. He now has five divans, four of them are written in colloquial Arabic which is best to read in the Bedouin accent. Desert has a big influence on his poetry, added to it a very nice sense of humor flooding from his soul. He always says that the environment he lived in has contributed in shaping his poetry and that all his poems are based on a real stories to the extent that most of his friends and surroundings might know the heroes he writes about even by their names too, so he usually starts his poems by telling the story behind them which is very entertaining and interesting to hear.
One of his most famous poem is ”Hamda”, where he speaks about a rebellious Bedouin female who refuses to marry her cousin according to her tribe customs and so she was killed for her refusal, after her death people claimed that they still could hear her voice yelling “I don’t want to marry you”.

To hear one of my favorite poem by him Click Here. It is called Al-Watan (Homeland), before he starts reciting it, he always asserts that one’s soul can’t rest at peace after death unless it’s buried at homeland.

Wish you enjoy it.