From Beirut was written during the invasion and bombing of Lebanon by the Israeli Army in the summer of 1982. The author, Mahmoud Darwish, is a palestinian refugee who lived through this war which is not unlike todays war on Lebanon. His voice in these times is not only relevant but critical.

This reading is based on a translation by Stephen Kessler, who based his translation on others. It sounds consistent with most versions I have read. This version of the poem was published by Pygmy Forest Press in 1992.
The reading was done in a state of urgency that was created in me by this war on Lebanon. I had no other voice but my own to read it, and it was read in hope of creating just a little more humanity, and a little more voice, to the people of Lebanon through a poet of enormous importance: Mahmoud Darwish. He was born in 1942 a Palestinian, in a village that was later razed by the Israeli Army. Darwish left Israel in 1971, for Beirut. For more information on Mahmoud Darwish visit his site at http://www.mahmouddarwish.com/english/notmine.htm .