You Were Not Unknown
S. Rouzbeh
۱۷ تیر ۱۴۰۵

A nameless victim is remembered as a sister whose life and identity cannot be reduced to a number.

‘You Were Not Unknown’

You were not unknown;
we came to know you late.

You
were the estranged sister of our home,
sister to the women of this land,
sister to the men
who still
carry grief in silence.

You were not unknown;
you gave your life,
a name that never reached the page,
but on the heart of a nation
was engraved.

We are the unknown ones
if we entrust the names of those who live on
to numbers;
if we leave thousands of hopes
in the margin of the news;
if we fail to know
that every nameless body
was an entire world.

The executioners
aimed at your heart,
but did not know
that a heart beating for the homeland
cannot be silenced by a bullet.

Grief for you
weighs upon a nation;
not because death was your end,
but because your life
was a simple right
stolen from you.

Zahhak
paid the price;
and those who still
sit on a throne of blood
will one day,
before your name
and the names of all those who live on,
be called to account.

You were not unknown;
you were our sister,
you were the homeland’s wounded voice,
and for ever
in the people’s memory
you will live.

Source: https://srouzbeh.com/en/posts/archive-d8725434-b225-3375-0b8e-5ea518490bee
Please credit the author and link to this edition.