Nizar Kabbani was born in Syria in 1923, to a traditional, well-to-do family. He served in Syria’s diplomatic corp for more than twenty years (1945-1966), but settled for political reasons in London. He died on April 30, 1998; at his request, he was buried in Damascus. Bassam K. Frangieh is professor of Arabic at Yale University. Clementina R. Brown translates and interprets from Arabic, French, and Spanish into English.