I am so homesick today…
Nezami Ganjavi - Museum of Azerbaijan's Literary Greats
On my way to Baku, I had a hunch that something was in the air; something was about to happen, I was about to face a phenomenon that I had never experienced before. Two hours and forty five minutes of flying over my country…I can feel the meaning of bewilderment in my heart and soul, and I do not take my eyes off of my land’s exhausted landscape for a second.
Bandar Abbas, Shiraz, Esfehan…
I open the wings of my imagination so that it can fly wherever its little heart desires. Strange times we live in! Once, when I was in Iran, I was struggling to get out, now, outside of my country, it is allowed to go anywhere but home.
Now , we are flying over Tehran, the skies are gloomy and cloudy, the flickering of the little lights are nowhere to be seen, but through these dark and heavy clouds, I can clearly see what goes on in the streets of my land, those alleys brimming with the sweet memories of my childhood and youth.
I have an inexplicable feeling; a part of me is still lingering in this land.
I remember a beautiful poem by Hamid Mossadegh:
Are you listening my beloved?
Do not wish upon a cloud
Do not wish upon rainless clouds
Clouds that are nowhere in sight
If there is any ambition, it lies within you and I
In this drought stricken desert
We can find water in the heart of stones
I find myself lost in my memories, the back alleys of Tehran, the distant memories, the sweet recollections, the failures, bewilderments, infatuations, the bitter sweet times, the unforgettable moments, the silent but oh, so grand memories, souvenirs of the good old times before this strange migration to a foreign land,
So long as the lights are off in my land,
The world turns in mourning,
As rosebud’s blood is dripping from the seconds
As the young carcasses pass through the night…
Dariush
January 6, 2009
Press Conference With Baku’s Media