Modern Persian Poetry - Mahmud Kianush's: To Victorious Warlords

To Victorious Warlords

A Poem by

Mahmud Kianush

Copyright shall at all times remain vested in the Author. No part of the work shall be used, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the Author's express written consent.

The fighting man who fires hatred

Through his borrowed mouth,

And ecstatically plays with death

In his beguiled eyes,

Has forgotten his unguided childhood

When the sun rose in his head,

Rose gardens bloomed in his heart,

And nightingales perched on his fingers

To learn their songs.

To make him remember

That Life is always Beautiful,

That Truth is Beauty,

That Beauty is the Faith of Man,

You only need a gentle, awakening word,

Not a blind, revengeful bullet.

London, 19 November 2001


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