Afsaneh Salim Bayati

Title:  Us

Statement:  "We," born out of the bitter common sufferings, have become "us."
"We," who have opened our lips to protest and shamefully our frail bodies,
which have become the hotter bed of bullets; have become "us."
"We," entangled in our own ashes,
in the dark and obscure moments when our fellow traveler has not been,
have stood alone and plunged into the deep abyss of sameness as if it were our eternal companion.
"We," behind the ramparts of evil in war with hope and despair,
weary of our own whims and restless for the future of freedom...
"We," immersed in the sleep of power and contaminated sanctities,
have given up and abandoned everything that became "us"
and have distanced ourselves from our homeland.
"We," the wanderers farther than the heart desires,
sometimes detested in the outskirts of memory and reminiscence,
in the imagination,
sometimes estranged and sometimes longed for...
"We," fragments of "we"...