Publisher: Meem
ISBN: 978 1 911561 00 2
Dimensions: 26.1 x 21.1 x .7 cm
Iraq is not just a name or a piece of land, nor is it a map of the oldest
civilization or a country with a flag and national anthem: it is not a
land of one faith and one race. Iraq is my inner soul, which has kept me
working all these years, and which shares a dream with its people
to build the country with a free and progressive vision.
No lights out at Al-Shaheed Monument;
No butterflies around Abu Nawas’s statue,
Nor drunken men on its street.
No flute for the Marshlands’ sparrow,
Only silence when I remember your name.
Is that my inner soul? Is that you?
How can your name be a mirror to a mentality of sectarianism and
revenge? How can it reflect ethnic cleansing, tribal flags and values,
To a land of depression and poverty?
If your dreams look like that… then your dreams can no longer be mine.
Dia Azzawi
London. 28 October 2016
