Kamand Kojouri

Always ask yourself: ‘What will happen if I say nothing?’

“Let our silence grow with noise
as pregnant mothers grow with life.
Let our silence permeate these walls
as sunlight permeates a house.

Let the silence rise from unwatered graves
and craters left by bombs.
Let the silence rise from empty bellies
and surge from broken hearts.

The silence of the hidden and forgotten.
The silence of the battered and tortured.
The silence of the persecuted and imprisoned.
The silence of the hanged and massacred.

Loud as all the sounds can be,
let our silence be loud
so the hungry may eat our words,
and the poor may wear our words.

Loud as all the sounds can be,
let our silence be loud
so we may resurrect the dead
and give voice to the oppressed.

Our silence speaks.”

Kamand Kojouri