Shahrazad - Stories for life

Mansur Rajih and Faraj Bayrakdar paid a high price for speaking out - 29 years in prison!

photo: © Hawta Muhammadali / www.hautap.se

Finally -
unlike what hadn't been usual for him -
my darling smiled at her name.
The universe celebrated by adding two extra skies
and butterflies
wore wings
of pure freedom -
Thanks,
said the forests
as they combed their hair with the wind -
Thanks,
said the seagulls
as they shook the fatigue of those first migrations

off their wings -
Thanks, said the waves,
as they performed their dance
in an oceanic key of passion -
Wheat fields stirred
and dreams tamed the storms
and God retook his throne again

Finally,
and like what had been usual till then,
the guard's voice gurgled
making known the end of the visit
the prison grilles close her
eyes
and the walls don
a hue of deep shame

26 January 1993 ( Saydnaya Prison)

Faraj Bayrakdar's biography

Literary encounter

Faraj Bayrakhdar (Syria/at present living in Stockholm)
introduced by Stefan Weidner, literary translator, Cologne