YAR (friend)

Since the murder of Mahsa Amini at the hands of morality police in Iran on September 16, 2022, Iranians around the world have begun the uprising to topple the current illegitimate regime of Iran under the slogan: “Woman, Life, Freedom”

Over 20,000 souls have been arrested and are held in Iranian Prisons in the most torturous and inhumane conditions. At least 516 protesters have been killed, 70 of which are children. Thousands more have been gravely injured, sexually assaulted and kidnapped and disappeared. In a fresh round of retaliation the government has now chemically attacked over 300 all girl elementary and high-schools across Iran, sending over 2000 girls to hospital with chemical poisoning and killing at least 2. And yet Iranians have not given up, clinging to their shared cause to seek change. This song is inspired by the sustained heart ache of losing so many young boys and girls in the revolution and dedicated to the empty seats left behind by the killed students in elementary, high schools and universities.

“The only people who can save us, is you and me”

My childhood friend of early School years
you are my forever friend and companion
The hard lessons of life always
hovering on our heads
you are my regret and my nostalgia
our names are forever written 
on the black board
the signs of beatings from tyranny and bullying
are still left on our bodies

****

the fields of our unhappiness
is full of weed and dying flowers
no matter how good or how bad
the people’s hearts are dead
only our hands can tear down these curtains
who other than us can heal our wounds?