Qasida

A qasida is a type of poem that comes from the Arabic language and is usually performed as a song. It tells a story or shares ideas and emotions through beautiful words and rhymes.

Imagine that your teacher gives you a special assignment to write a really cool poem. You think really hard about what you want to say and how you want to say it. You want to make sure that your poem is the best, so you use big words and make sure everything rhymes perfectly.

That's kind of what it's like to write a qasida! Except qasidas are a lot older than you are and they come from a different part of the world. People have been writing and singing qasidas for hundreds of years.

Just like your poem, a qasida is made up of verses, or lines of words. But unlike your poem, which might only have a few verses, a qasida can have many, many verses that all fit together and tell a complete story. The qasida often has a very musical quality to it and can be sung by one person or a group of people.

So the next time you hear a qasida, remember that it's like a really fancy, long poem that tells a story or shares ideas and emotions.