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Article: Illustrious Arab poets through the centuries.
- Article from:
- Contemporary Review
- Article date:
- August 1, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 Contemporary Review Company Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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'I've left my heart in the hands of God in Baghdad
I said good bye to him when I wished instead,
That I would say good bye to the days of my life'.
ACCORDING to an Iraqi admirer, in his farewell message, on 28 June 2004 to the Iraqi people, Paul Bremer, the U.S. appointed ruler of Iraq, recited these words by a Baghdadi Iraqi poet from the past. Like numerous other non-Arabs who had lived in the Arab world before his arrival, Bremer, in less than a year, had been ensnared by the mystic aura of Arabic poetry.
In the desert of Arabia long before the Islamic conquests, Arabic had developed an enormous ...