When you didn´t hear children´s laughter
and it was just a berg of ruin,
black banners had been hoisted at the doors
of their bombarded houses.
When I didn´t meet my comrades anymore
and it had not been heard
any news about their bodies,
black banners had been hoisted at the doors
of their simple houses.
When the heart bleeding mothers´ tears merged
with hurts and grieving dogs´ howl
and the cold winds of the north
with black banners scream
when the wind blow through them,
it put the bombarded nights
engraved at our hearts forever.
Black banners
had been flagged for
bodies that never been founded.
Black banners
had been flagged for
solders that never came back.
Black banners
had been flagged over the graves
of youths, with thousands of dreams,
who had been murdered.
Black banners
had been flagged at the unknown
graves of more than thirty thousand young political prisoners who were hung on electricity poles throughout the country in 1988.
Black banners
had been flagged at the bodies of
boys and girls who never got a chance to grow up.
Black banners
at the bodies of mothers who died of crying
at the bodies of fathers who died of sorrow.
Ja, when it was just war and winter cold
when it wasn´t a sign of life in a country under
the rule of murderers and mullahs
there were just thousands/millions of
black banners that had been hoisted
all over the country.
And there were grieving mothers who were
crying quietly under the black banners.
And we, the survivors, got never back our happiness.
© Samuel E. Rajeus, Stockholm, Sweden, 1991, Published in 2008, Book: Shadows; collections of poems, ISBN 978-91-977393-1-3