“A part of us remains
Kamand Kojouri
when we leave somewhere.
It is a part we can never reclaim
even if we revisit the place,
for it was never ours to begin with.
There is so little of us
that belongs to ourselves.
This body is the earth’s.
This heart is yours,
and hers, and theirs.
The only thing that is our own
is our freedom of will—
the freedom to choose
our perceptions in life.
All else is borrowed.
All else is everyone else’s.”