Forget the dictators and the selfish
And the thousands like them
They come, they burn everything, they leave
They shatter pens
Burn poets and their works.
They hang them and imprison them
They shoot Lorca
Break musical instruments.
But we must write and sing
Love, freedom, justice
And equality
The world of peace without bombs
Missiles or prisons.
Dictators show the world
That in the future there are no children, no parents
Parents wait in vain for the return
Of their child from the battlefields.
I swear on the mass graves of all the dead
I swear on the ashes left behind by all the holocausts.
On all the women who clashed over injustices
On the tired hands of workmen
On the holy fathers who are ashamed
To tell their children they can’t enjoy
A friend, a childish game
Children are deprived, they work, they beg
I swear on all the burnt libraries
On all the cells of injustice
I swear on mankind, on the violence of mankind
And of men
Until the last tree on earth
Love, justice, freedom, equality
Perhaps one day, verses and music
Will replace simplicity
When children will only play with toys
That is a day of hope
The hope of tomorrow’s world.
Said’s poem was published in the school magazine of the No2 Intercultural Senior High School at Elliniko, with the title “Without Borders”
Our young poet has been inspired by the great Iranian poet Yaghma Goirouee.
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