What do we know of the man
Kamand Kojouri
who passes us in the street?
Do we notice his multitudes
— the million masterpieces of his mind?
There aren’t enough years to really know someone.
He has already changed in the passing.
Come, it is getting late.
Let me share my infinite selves.
“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.”
“When I am gone,
break the night.
Set my remains on fire,
so I can still be your light,
for I am forever indebted to you.
O people of the world,
O love,
I am eternally yours.”Kamand Kojouri
“I have drunk the night
and swallowed the stars.
I am dancing with abandon
and singing with rapture.
There is not a thing I do not love.
There is not a person I have not forgiven.
I feel a universe of love.
I feel a universe of light.
Tonight, I am with old friends
and we are returning home.
The moon is our witness.”Kamand Kojouri
“You must be more alive than life.
You must see darkness dance
and hear silence sing.
You must be more awake than light
for we aren’t born sleeping
and we shouldn’t live sleeping.
Only then will death’s slumber
become sweet.”Kamand Kojouri
“How freeing of a thought:
instead of worrying about leaving a legacy,
to leave no trace of one’s existence.
How liberating indeed!”Kamand Kojouri
“If today is not your day,
then be happy
for this day shall never return.
And if today is your day,
then be happy now
for this day shall never return.”Kamand Kojouri
“Do not go to my grave.
Mary knows, I am not there.
Look for me in between pages
and on people’s lips.
Do not go to my old school.
Do not go to my old house —
I am not in any of those places.
Look for me in your hearts
and greet me there.”Kamand Kojouri
“Embrace contradictions
for they make up
all of life:
You will eternally be
looking for yourself and
seeking ways to lose yourself.”Kamand Kojouri
“This poem was meant
to be unwritten.
But I am writing it now
and have thereby changed
destiny.”Kamand Kojouri
Kamand Kojouri 