The Unknown Soldier
When a delegate visits a foreign country,
He brings a crown of flowers for the grave of the Unknown Soldier.
If tomorrow, a delegate came to my country and asked me:
Where is the grave of the Unknown Soldier?
I would say: Sir,
At the bank of every stream
Under the dome of every mosque
At the doorstep of every house
Every church
Every cave
Under the boulder of every mountain
Under the branches of every garden in this country
Over every inch of earth
Under every yard of sky,
Don’t be afraid, bow your head, and there set down your crown of flowers.
This poem forms the epigraph to my brother’s book of photographs of Kurdistan: Sebastian Meyer, Under Every Yard of Sky, Red Hook Editions, 2019.
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