“Before you, nothing.
Now you,
and everything.”

Kamand Kojouri

“Come to me.
Why must you ruin this moment?
You are burdened with thought.
Burdened with the past
and expectations of the future.
You are burdened with your self.
Cast these aside
by laughing at yourself.
And love,
for what more is there than to love me?
Take me now
and let it be heaven for us.”

Kamand Kojouri

“My hours are filled with fantasy and indifference.
In day and night dreams, I think of my heaven with you.
All the time in between, I carelessly spend in hell without you.”

Kamand Kojouri

“I write our names on the page.
What of it, if the paper will be burned?
I write our names in the sand.
What of it, if the shore will be washed by waves?
I write our names on trees that will be cut
and benches that will be painted,
but what of it?
I will keep on writing our names
because in this world of ephemera,
You and I are the only constant.”

Kamand Kojouri

“Believe me when I say:
‘Out of all those around,
she’s the best locksmith in town.’
Her stethoscope ears
know when the dials of your heart
click into place.
She’s been cutting keys for years.
You don’t stand a chance
with that flimsy case.
Alas, no matter how
you lock your heart —
bolt, fixture, and
key —
she’s got nimble fingers
that pick locks for
free.
Padlocks and deadbolts
are all in vain.
Why do you even bother
with that chain?
She’s way too smart.
Along with ours, she’ll have
your heart.
And you will see
that the best locksmith in town
is she.”

Kamand Kojouri

“Your eyes are like heavy rain
falling from pregnant clouds.
With one glance, you washed away
the poems I chalked on the ground
and drowned all my beliefs.
Now, I only scribble your name
and believe in your truth.
I know nothing but you.”

Kamand Kojouri

“Come, let us speak with our bodies.
Teach me how to please you.
I am here to learn.
Let us not waste this time.
It is the hour of union.
Come
And after you do,
Come again.”

Kamand Kojouri

“Do the lovers know
that when they whisper these poems
they are commemorating our love?
Do they ever think of you and me
or only of themselves?
Do they know that I once found
a strand of your hair
and wore it around my neck
like a necklace?
That I kiss your hands
more than I kiss your lips?
Do they realise that our love
and their love
are drops in the universe’s ocean of love
and that without any of these drops,
the ocean would be
less?”

Kamand Kojouri

“Extremities are flawed.
Moderation is ideal, save for one occasion.
So damn these eyes that weep too much.
This mind that thinks too much.
But never this heart that loves too much.”

Kamand Kojouri

“Tell me where swans go in winter
I need to know if the mute ones can sing.

Tell me why stars fall from the sky
I need to know if it is luck they bring.

Tell me why feathers land near you
I need to know if you’ve injured your wing.

Now, tell me where you end, my angel
For I no longer know where I begin.”

Kamand Kojouri