Lebanese Bid Farewell to Senior Poet Akl
The funeral service for poet and writer Said Akl was held on Tuesday at Saint George Cathedral in downtown Beirut before he was laid to rest at the al-Bayader cemetery in his hometown Zahle.
Akl passed away on Friday at the age of 102.
Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi led the prayers at the Saint George Cathedral.
“Akl loved Lebanon and raised its name high,” al-Rahi said, adding that the poet “considered Lebanon an extraordinary country.”
His coffin will be taken to his hometown of Zahle in the Bekaa valley for his burial.
Akl was born in 1912.
Free Patriotic Movement chief Michel Aoun, Kataeb leader Amin Gemayel, former President Michel Suleiman and several other officias took part in Akl's funeral service.
Akl's casket arrived at the Cathedral from the Notre Dame University - Louaize, where the poet's death was mourned on Monday in the presence of hundreds of artists, officials and students.
Akl's coffin was carved by sculptor, painter and poet Rudy Rahme, who designed the casket from Lebanese rock and a 3,000-year-old cedar tree that was uprooted by a storm in 1983.
He engraved in the wood the titles of Akl’s poems.
Akl is considered one of the most important modern Lebanese poets. He was a staunch advocate of Lebanese identity and nationalism and the Lebanese language, designing a Latin-based "Lebanese alphabet" made up of 37 letters which he used to publish Yara (poetry) and Loubnan (newspaper).
He set up a prize in his name for outstanding talents. He has written many works on theology, patriotism, politics, philosophy, poetry and arts in general.
His poetical works include Rindala, Ajmalou Minki? La (More Beautiful than You? No), Ajrass Al Yasameen (The Jasmine Bells), Kitabou Al Ward (The Book of Roses), Doulza, Qassa'ed min Daftariha (Poems from Her Notebook), Kama Al A'mida (Like Pillars), Nahtoun fi Al Daw' (Carving in Light), Sharar (Sparks).
Akl has written three plays in poetic form: The Daughter of Jephthah, The Magdalena and Cadmus.
His published prose includes Loubnan in Haka (If Lebanon were to Speak).
He has also published a number of lectures and articles.
In July 2014 the Beirut Municipality named a street in one of its neighborhoods after Akl.
The memorial plaque read: "Said Akl Street, a century of giving, creativity, honest nationalism.”
H.K.
G.K.
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