By Tahir Taeb Jaff
Lecturer and Writer
I am a different example of an aspiring man,
Terror cannot eradicate me.
I searched for myself,
Descending through the passages of antiquity,
Studying the alphabets of different languages,
Reading numerous books,
Tasting the essence of sentences,
Breaking through the barriers of words,
And contemplating the remaining letters.
Oops!
The remaining manuscripts were either misinterpreted or misread,
Facts either terrified historians,
Or my history was intentionally distorted!
I asked other historians,
Begged Assyrian,
Sumerian,
And Babylonian archaeologists,
But alas, my case received no attention!
My vivid history was blindfolded and discarded,
Neither released nor allowed to be researched!
What was I to them?
They misinterpreted and misread the manuscripts,
Historians were either terrified or deliberately distorted my past!
But I continued searching for myself,
In the depths of Utnapishtim’s woe,
I sank the great anticipation of Gilgamesh,
He chose not to pursue immortality,
He, like his friend Enkidu, passed away,
Yet I did not give up searching for the truth.
“Oedipus,” I asked, “can you unravel my complex?”
But I received no answer!
Alexander the Great invaded my land,
Xenophanes killed my imprisoned brother,
Yet none could reveal the truth to me!
Wise Greeks,
Arab Islamist invaders,
Ambitious Turks,
Senseless Persians,
Biased English,
French, and Americans,
Found solace and rest in their own homelands,
But I was driven away, forced to leave, and my dreams drowned.
Sword carriers on camels terrorized, gassed, and Anfalized me.
I tried to shield myself, but it was a struggle,
I could hardly keep “MYSELF,”
And when I did, I was away searching for asylum in airports, harbors, strange cities, dirty restaurants, and messy nightclubs.
Capitalists welcomed me,
Ex-queens greeted me,
Dancers performed for me,
Playful artists and many others said, “Hello,”
I settled among friendly human beings.
Yet, I could not forget the savages who killed me,
Their agitating eyes burn with deep-seated hatred.
I cannot fathom the torture they inflicted upon me,
But the agonized prisoners started rebuilding Home,
Arbil Citadel, with the vast hole of Gilkand left behind,
Rose to the heavens and still sings for the freedom of Man.
Oh, friends!
Have you ever seen a man like ME?
I am a unique human being,
Of the same category as those brave men and women who fight for freedom.
I was born into a complex atmosphere devoid of freedom,
I escaped the rope that always threatened to suffocate me,
But I never remained silent!
Therefore, I can reaffirm that as long as the sun’s rays touch the Earth’s surface,
Every dark night will reward our Home, Kurdistan, with a clear dawn.
13/8/1998
My first day in Winnipeg, MB CANADA