MY KURDISTAN*
My country:
Is a slaughtered bird,
Body covered with blood,
An occupied country,
Not existing on the map.
Is a soft beautiful word
Beloved to the Kurdish heart,
Is the dream throughout all time
For tens of millions of Kurds.
Is Land and history,
Novel and story,
Art and poetry,
Real not in fiction,
But in our memory.
Is God’s gift for us,
Fertile beautiful Land,
Sweet water, mild weather
Like the Garden of Paradise.
1997(?)
by Yassin Aref
*In 1997 I read a book by Rasul Hamzatoff Dagstani, “My Dagstan.” It was very close to Kurdish life. I took his title and I wrote “My Kurdistan.”