For

For my grandfather, who spent his life longing to return to Iran
For my father, who dreams of visiting the city he grow up in, with his son

For my parents, who even after 40 years Iran never left their heart
For the 10 million who fled because they were torn apart

For all the blood that has been shed and spilled
For all the dreams that weren’t and never will

For all the pain and all the sighs
For all the tears and the mother’s cries

For all the men whose hopes have been shattered
For all the women whose’s bodies have been battered

For all the fathers who have seen the oppression of their daughters
For a people where an innocent act of protest can get them slaughtered

For an ancient nation who yearn to be free
But are denied even the God-given right to be

For all the people who will have to die in strife
Just for the next generation to have a life

For the vicious baton-wielding men
Who have become monsters
For every strike they strike again and again

For the world that has lost the beauty of the Persian culture and mind
For the fact that we can’t rewind the hands of time to 1979

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Written during the 2022 protests in Iran