The voices / 363 fragments

Kamand Kojouri

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Name supplied in the contributor-provided quotation collection. Basic attribution label; identity, lifetime and quotation authenticity have not been independently verified.

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Archive entries

01Undated

What you choose also chooses you.

Kamand Kojouri / quote

02Undated

You have to be transparent so you no longer cast a shadow but instead let the light pass through you.

Kamand Kojouri / quote

03Undated

Happiness is exercising the little freedom that we have by choosing things that create harmony in our lives.

Kamand Kojouri / quote

04Undated

Ignorance might be bliss. But self-forgetfulness is pure ecstasy.

Kamand Kojouri / quote

05Undated

Love, they said, burns youand builds you.But with you, there’s no ash.Just light.

Kamand Kojouri / quote

06Undated

They want us to be afraid. They want us to be afraid of leaving our homes. They want us to barricade our doors and hide our children. Their aim is to make us fear life itself! They want us to hate. They want us to hate 'the other'. They want us to practice aggression and perfect antagonism. Their aim is to divide us all! They want us to be inhuman. They want us to throw out our kindness. They want us to bury our love and burn our hope. Their aim is to take all our light! They think their bricked walls will separate us. They think their damned bombs will defeat us. They are so ignorant they don’t understand that my soul and your soul are old friends. They are so ignorant they don’t understand that when they cut you I bleed. They are so ignorant they don’t understand that we will never be afraid, we will never hate and we will never be silent for life is ours!

Kamand Kojouri / quote

07Undated

Here's another poem,like all others before and after,dedicated to you.There isn't anything left to be saidbut I will spend my lifetrying to put you into words.You who is every goodness,every optimismand hope.Your love is a better fate for methan anything I could wish for.If you are a part of me, then you’re the best part.And if you're separate from me, then you are my destination.But I’ve become a weary traveller,so please,let us never be apart.

Kamand Kojouri / quote

08Undated

You only feel powerless because your fear has given your power to the object of your fear. Once you realise this, you can claim it back.

Kamand Kojouri / quote

09Undated

I would rather lie facedown on the ground and use my body as a bridge, than stand proud and tall and use my body as a wall.

Kamand Kojouri / quote

10Undated

We cannot hunt for love. We can only surrender and become love’s prey.

Kamand Kojouri / quote

11Undated

You might just find God in a mirror one day.

Kamand Kojouri / quote

12Undated

I see your painas clearly as I feel my own.I will share your burden so you feel it less.Do not hate this world.Do not hate these people.I will share my hopeso you feel it more.I want you to see our loveas clearly as I feel yours.

Kamand Kojouri / quote

13Undated

In the beginning was love, and love was with God, and love was God.

Kamand Kojouri / quote

14Undated

God begets love.

Kamand Kojouri / quote

15Undated

Why do you feel so powerless? Go spend an hour with ants. Each of those black specks you see is a life. One whole life that you can save, take, or affect in some way. You have the power to make so many lives better. It is within you. Don’t lose sight of that.

Kamand Kojouri / quote

16Undated

You want help? Ask for help. You want love? Ask for love. If you want anything from the universe, anything from yourself, you must first ask.

Kamand Kojouri / quote

17Undated

You must have hope in a better future and have faith in this hope. But then you must forget your hope and focus on this moment now.

Kamand Kojouri / quote

18Undated

It’s so easy to lose faith and become lost in all of the politics of the world. That’s why we need the arts. To sublimate our frustration and anger into something beautiful. Freud called sublimation a virtuous defence mechanism because it is in the arts that we can find our humanity.

Kamand Kojouri / quote

19Undated

Kiss your scars. Fall in love with them. They ought to serve as life-affirming reminders—a lingering trace of hope. The only reason we have these scars is because we survived and are still here.

Kamand Kojouri / quote

20Undated

I don’t know why everyoneis still trying to find out whether heaven and hell exist.Why do we need more evidence?They exist here on this very Earth.Heaven is standing atop Mount Qasiounoverlooking the Damascene sightswith the wind carrying Qabbani’sdulcet words all around you.And hell is only four hours away in Aleppo where children’s cries drown out the explosions of mortar bombsuntil they lose their voice,their families, and their limbs.Yes, hell certainly does existright now, at this moment,as I pen this poem. And all we’re doingto extinguish this hellfireis sighing, shrugging, liking, and sharing.Tell me: what exactly does that makeus? Are we any better than the gatekeepers of hell?

Kamand Kojouri / quote

21Undated

O, weary angels, don’t look at me with those eyes.If that is your state then what of our cries?What can I tell you of goodness that you don’t already know?What can I tell you of faith,of hope and lovethat you yourselves bestow?O, angels, don’t pluck another feather,this isn’t the sky, it’s just the weather.Please, angels, try.We are one all together.Look up and listen, I’ll say it once and then put down my pen:We are sorry for our ignoranceand even though we are worldly,it might happen again.We are sorry for your wearinessand even though you aren’t worldly,we are no more than human.

Kamand Kojouri / quote

22Undated

Now is not the time for bigots and racists. No time for sexists and homophobes. Now, more than ever, is the time for ARTISTS. It’s time for us to rise above and to create. To show humanity. To spread hope. We must prevent society from destroying itself, from losing its way. Now is the time for love.

Kamand Kojouri / quote

23Undated

The only path wide enough for us all is love.

Kamand Kojouri / quote

24Undated

We live only for the hope of love.

Kamand Kojouri / quote