'We Shall Return One Day'

Sung by the incomparable Fairouz, this classical aria by the Rahbani brothers continues to speak to the heart of every refugee.

Here is a liberal translation of this beautiful song:

'We shall return,'
the nightingale told me,
When upon a hill we met.
That nightingale lives on there
In our dreams.
Among the hills
And people who yearn,
There is a place for us.
O heart, how long?
How long then...
Have we been scattered by the wind?

Come,
We shall return.
Let us return!

O heart, do not drop in weariness
On the path of our return.
How it wounds our pride to know
That birds tomorrow will return
While we still remain here.

There are hills
That sleep and wake again
On our pledge.
There are people
In love with days
Filled with waiting and nostalgic songs,
And places where the eye is filled
With willows bending over the water,
While in their shade
Afternoons drink the perfume of peace.

One day
We shall return to our homes,
To drown in the warmth of hope.
We shall return
Though time passes us by
And distances grow only greater
Between us.'

Sanarjiou Yawman