Ameen Rihani (1876ndash;1940) was a poet, writer, diplomat and intellectual, who wrote in both English and Arabic. Born in Lebanon, he spent his teen years in New York, where, with his friend Kahlil Gibran, he was part of the literary and artistic circles of the day. As a writer, he was greatly esteemed in the United States during his lifetime, and he remains widely read in the Middle East to this day.