The living places
The river still turns red. The spring still opens.
Afqa, where Cronus took Ouranos against the fountains. Nahr Ibrahim, where Adonis was killed by the boar and the water keeps the season.
Jeita, the inner river. Faqra, a later shrine facing the same mountain. Qadisha, the holy valley beneath the cedars.
The poem is later. The red water is the land.
Afqa, the spring of Adonis
Karst spring and grotto · Mount Lebanon · sanctuary of the Lady
The mountain itself — place of the wound
Wikimedia Commons · Afqa, Lebanon
Gad Yaton: The poem is later. The red water is the land.
Nahr Ibrahim — the Adonis river
Mountain river · iron-red in season · Byblos hinterland
The wound on our water
Wikimedia Commons · Nahr Ibrahim, Lebanon
Gad Yaton: Adonis is a Greek title on a Byblos lord. The river still turns.
Temple at the Afqa spring
Sanctuary ruins · Afqa, Mount Lebanon · Ouranos / the Lady
The spring where the sky was cut
Wikimedia Commons · Afqa temple
Gad Yaton: Cronus at the springs. The mountain remembers the knife.
Jeita — the inner water
Karst cave · Nahr el-Kalb, Keserwan · Mount Lebanon
The mountain’s mouth — not a temple, a fact of the limestone
Wikimedia Commons · Jeita Grotto
Gad Yaton: The same mountain that feeds Afqa holds another river in the dark.
Temple of Adonis at Faqra
Roman shrine in snow · Faqra, Kfardebian · Mount Lebanon
A later house facing the same mountain as Afqa
Wikimedia Commons · Faqra, Lebanon
Gad Yaton: The names change. The spring does not.
Ouadi Qadisha — the holy valley
Deep limestone valley beneath the cedars · Bsharri district · Mount Lebanon
UNESCO World Heritage — Qadisha Valley
Wikimedia Commons · Qadisha Valley
Gad Yaton: The holy valley under the grove. The wood and the wound share one mountain.
A fall in Qadisha
Mountain water · Qadisha Valley · Mount Lebanon
UNESCO World Heritage — the holy valley
Wikimedia Commons · Qadisha Valley
Gad Yaton: Water leaving the mountain the way blood left the springs.