Bury Me Thrice

Bury me thrice,
bury my earthly sins,
bury those twice..

Bury my heavenly soul,
for it's been my vice...

Thought I would fly, up above and rise...
But that was a dream,
and I've paid the price...

A long dark road,
hearts as cold as ice.
On your mistakes,
they sharpen their knives...

Stay alert, and open your eyes.
They seem as angels,
but it's a disguise...

Be wise, and hear my advice,
for in blood, I've been baptized...

Fear not my child,
and keep locked on your prize.
Life gives nothing in return for cries.

Take the blades,
but keep gaze at open skies...

Nothing lives forever,
but have a dream that never dies.

Be your own phoenix,
and from your ashes...
YOU SHALL EVER ARISE !!

With each time they killed me,
THEY SHOULD HAVE BURRIED ME THRICE !!

DEAD-END "Ahmad Shāmlou"

DEAD-END (1980)


They sniff your breath

in case you have uttered
a word of love;

they sniff at your heart

These are the strange times,
my precious.

And love itself is whipped and hanged
at a public crossroads:

better to hide your love
in a cellar.

In the twists and turns of
this cold dead-end
they keep their fires alight
fuelled with songs
and poems;

don't try to think:

these are strange times,
my precious.

He who knocks on the door
at nightfall,
has come to destroy your light:

Better to hide your light
in a cellar.

Look, there are the butchers
guarding the roads,
their axes dipped in blood:

these are strange times,
my precious.

Smiles are sealed onto lips,
songs are stuffed into
gaping mouths:

better to hide your joy
in a cellar.

Canaries are barbecued
of wood-fires of lily
and jasmine:

these are strange times,
my precious.

Lucifer, crazed with victory,
feasts on the fruits of our
mourning:

better to hide your God,
in a cellar.

"Ahmad Shāmlou; (December 12, 1925 — July 24, 2000) was a Persian poet, writer, and journalist"

Echoes...

To know not what to be?
Could my mind over come what explodes with every heart beat of my earthly soul?
Or am I fooling myself?
The light of the sun brings the illusion of warmth through the frost of the eastern winds...
A tender word brings the fake sensation of safety...

Should I grasp to this moment?
Or should I let go like I always do?
Do I have what it takes to tell what's false or what's true?
Or am I blinded by my memories of darkness, loneliness and never ending cold?

What cheers could this future bring?
When my past and present knew nothing but sorrow and that vague feeling of emptyness...
Hope.. does such a thing exist ?

Tormented Soul...

My pen came along, came along...
wondering of what has gone wrong?
Have you grown weak?
Gave up on everything and everyone…
you've forgotten your heart,
forgotten your dreams,
forgotten all that is around you… you even forgot me!!

You've left me on that blank pale paper;
out in the forgotten days…
you've left me,
after I had been your only friend at the darkest hour
I, who was faithful in the time of betrayal and deception

What shall I say; I've left you, my only friend
so I wouldn't burden you with the pain burdening me.
All the friends have gone away,
and my heart took an eternal nap
no one to wake him, no one to save him…
burnt in the furnace of pain till it turned black
My back is filled with stabs of betrayal
I have no way of leaning to rest…
My world has no cheers;
my life has nothing but pain

My own self is blaming me for what I've done,
"why don't you sleep?"
-And it doesn't know that it is the sleep that has abandoned me-
nothing is left in you of what used to!!

So tell me, what should I say?
that's a betraying lover,
that's a backstabbing friend
and that's a life where I no longer belong…
Even you "my only friend"...
if it wasn't for your boredom, and the ink shivering in your heart,
you wouldn't have asked why I have left you…
Nothing is what seems to be,
all has changed…
honesty, love, and emotions
even the rain drops have changed their colors…
Truth got stained with the colors of lies,
love threw away its purity,
and all true emotions have faded away…

Darkness closes in from every corner,
life is running fast…
and I'm forgotten in the margins of time…

Even fate played his dark game with me,
and withheld its cards from my sights,
left me all alone…
anger no longer helps,
the sense of oppression has conquered my beliefs,
brought the frozen cold to the warmth of me…

Even the North star, in the lonesome of its solitude…
has the moon to keep company, while I'm left all alone
tears have all dried up,
and my patience grew sick of my patience …
silence is yelling in the depth of my thoughts !!
Speak up!! Hold it in no more!!

All those which have crowded your mind,
aching all the time… let them see the light… speak up !!

So my dearest pen,
Do u blame me for being loyal in a time where loyalty is no longer there…
I kept you away from my sorrows;
I didn't want to tell you,
no... I didn't want to tell

I've grown sick of life
grown sick of lies,
grown sick of the burns of cold in my heart…
so do you find the words to say?

My evening candle was blown out by the winter wind,
and the leaves of my life have been scattered by the hands of time…
so do as all has done,
close your eyes…
deafen your ears from my sorrows,
turn your back on me

I'm no longer the one I used to be,
I've walked away from a life that walked away from me…
leave me to my sorrows, leave me to my broken thoughts,
leave me to the smoke of my pain…

My coffee got cold,
my patience grew old…
it's time to rest
in a darkness that my days got used to,
in a cold that my heart lives in…
in a lonesome peace, like a deserted desert…

The soul has faded away… Vanished… No blame…

It's a crisis…

We live in a changing world, and it's getting smaller, more and more, day by day. Still, despite our greater interaction, there are people who don't understand that the only way we can all live with together in this world is summed up in one single word "coexistence".

When I take a brief look at the state of the world nowadays, I find that it's torn apart by wars and conflicts, most of whom are – sadly – based on ideological grounds. So the question I ask is, why?

Now, this might seem like a simple question with an easy answer, but below the surface, it is anything but that. Embedded deeply in our subconscious is the belief that all that is different from what we are is wrong - not just another perspective or concept, but simply wrong. And based on this reason, we find that people are obsessed with the idea of a 'war of civilizations' or a war of cultures and religions.

As a Palestinian and a Muslim, I really do not have a problem with Jews as Jews – contrary to what some might claim - and I don't see the conflict as a religious war against Jews. But I do have a problem with the Israeli practices on my land. I have a problem with the concept of taking over my land and kicking away its people in the name of a religion. I also have a problem with killing people in the name of religion, imprisoning people in the name of religion. That I do have a problem with.

For you to understand why I think this, and for me to prove my point, we have to go back all the way to the year of 1897 when the idea of establishing a national state for the Jews of the world was first agreed upon. Look back at this year and remember that by then there had been no World War, there had been no Nazi Holocaust!

And more, Palestine was not the only country suggested for this national state only for Jews, Uganda and Argentina were also considered. So then why Palestine? In order to convince the Jews of the world to leave everything behind and start all over somewhere else, you have to give a good reason. And what better of a reason than playing the card of religion!

Why were the crusades fought under the name of the cross? Why are people being killed in the name of Islam? Who has the right to manipulate people's minds using the words of the maker or the Holy texts of a certain religion? That is our problem. Sick minded people who interpret their own religion in the way that suits their needs.

This is a plea I make to the pure hearts all over the world: 'Keep religions away from politics.' No matter what you believe in, whether it is a religion or not. No matter what you choose to name your maker, no matter how you choose to worship; we all agree that there is a common good, we all believe that there is something just, we all agree on what is beautiful.

All the religious differences people have in this world are nothing but a cloak of semantics. Religion is the cover under which soldiers are sent around the world to kill another human being just like them. Look at the way Bush tells his soldiers the people they are attacking are 'evil 'and do not have God on their side (well, not his Christian God anyway). And the way the media only focuses on 'Islamist terrorism' as if this is the only religion being used to justify a conflict – what about the terrorizing of people in the name of Judaism back in 1948 and until now?

So let's all shed our masks and take a good look at one another: we will see all that we have in common and build on it, for the benefit of you, me and everybody else.

I would like to conclude with this wise saying and ask you to please notice the date when it was told. Is it not a shame that we, as the same human race that lived 2,000 years ago, have not yet reached this point?

" One should not honour only one's own religion and condemn the religions of others, but one should honour others' religions for this or that reason. So doing, one helps one's own religion to grow and renders service to the religions of others too. In acting otherwise one digs the grave of one's own religion and also does harm to other religions. Whosoever honours his own religion and condemns other religions, does so indeed through devotion to his own religion, thinking "I will glorify my own religion." But on the contrary, in so doing he injures his own religion more gravely. So concord is good: Let all listen, and be willing to listen to the doctrines professed by others. "

( Emperor Asoka of India, 3rd century B.C )