Michel Mousa Mitri Trad (October 21, 1912 - February 8, 1998) (in Arabic ميشال موسى متري طراد) was a Lebanese poet considered to be brilliant in Lebanese zajal poetry like Walim Saab, Emile Moubarak, Fouad Abu Ghanem, Adib AL-Attar, and Zaghloul AL-Damour.
[1] Trad, who lived in Zahle, was recognized for his work that often included love, women, and the beauty of Lebanon's nature, specifically, his home town Baskinta.
[6] Despite his passion for poetry at the time, Michel Trad had also worked in a co-op that was associated to the Riyaq military barracks (in Arabic الكوبراتيف).
Even though Trad had a good salary and a decent ride to and from work, he detested being an employee and had always thought that 'the devil of money'' was seducing him with the £L18 that he used to earn.
He used to spend the £L15 accordingly: £L4 on cigarettes, £L8 on drinking arak (in Arabic عرق) near Berdawni, and £L3 for his grandmother at home, leaving him with only £L3 to sustain him.
Even with his desperate need for the money, Trad believed he was capable of surviving without it and that working at the military barracks limited him and left him with little time to concentrate on his poetry.