Kazem Kazemi

Kazem Kazemi Poems

Kazem Kazemi Biography

Mohammad Kazem Kazemi is a notable contemporary Afghan poet, author, literary critic and a book editor by profession. Among others, he is currently a member of the editorial board of Dorre Dari (Pearl of Dari) (Persian: در دری‎) and Khatt-e-Sevom (Third Script) (Persian: خط سوم‎) Journals. Kazemi has authored many books on Persian literature and Afghan poetry. He has also written the book “Rozaneh” (Window) (Persian: روزنه‎) which has been published for the fourth time in Iran and is considered to be the most famous poetry textbook. He is currently living in Mashhad in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Kazemi was born into a religious family in Herat province of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. His father, Haj Mohammad Ali Kazemi, was a socially and politically active person and His Grandfather, Haj Mohammad Kazem, was a poet himself. Kazemi went to High School in Herat and has lived there until 1975, when he left Herat for Kabul. In 1984, he left Afghanistan and immigrated to Iran in order to escape the War in Afghanistan and to pursue his studies. He studied Civil Engineering at Ferdawsi University of Mashhad. He started writing poetry at the age of fourteen. In Iran, Kazemi was introduced to the works of poets like Abdul-Qādir Bēdil, Mohammad Ali Moalem Dameghani, and Khalilullah Khalili. Kazemi’s poetry is influenced by those of Moalem and Bedil. It was the poem “Bazgasht” (Return) (Persian: باز گشت‎), written in 1991, that brought him national and international fame. Return, which is widely considered as one of the most iconic poems of the modern Persian poetry, narrates the story of an Afghan refugee in Iran who has decided to return to Afghanistan. Kazemi used very strong and in some way very ironical metaphors in this poem to emphasize on Afghan’s suffering in Iran but he also highlighted the common culture and religious beliefs between the two nations. Today, almost every Afghan and Iranian can recite one or two lines from this poem. Since then, Return has inspired a host of responses both in and outside of Iran. Though lots of Kezemi’s poetry has a religious theme, he has also written a lot about the socio-political situation in Afghanistan and in Iran. In his style of poetry, Kazemi is influenced by Abdul-Qādir Bēdil and Moalem. In an interview with the Iranian website Soreh, Kazemi has told that he has memorized 3,000 verses of Bedil’s poetry.)

The Best Poem Of Kazem Kazemi

Return

At sunset, when the road's breath is warm, I'll depart.
I came here on foot, and on foot I will depart.
Tonight, the spell of exile will be broken;
tonight, I will wrap my empty sofra.1
Around the nights of celebration, O neighbor,
you will no longer hear the sound of cries.
That stranger2 without a piggybank, he'll depart
and that little girl who has no toys - she, too, will depart.


I who have walked struggle's horizon, its length and length
I who have only been seen on paths and roads
I whose bread was brick-hard
whose sofra, if any, was full of hunger -
every mirror reflects my broken image
every structure, every stone bears imprint
of my laboring hands
and whether they look at me with kindness or hostility
all men know me:
I stood up even as the sky broke its back,
I kept faith even as they all turned to ibn Muljams.3

How can I not return?
There, my refuge

there, my brother's tomb

the mosque, the mihrab,4

the sword waiting to kiss my head.5


Here there is only the prayer's call,
there we exclaim God's greatness. We rise.6

Here I am broken-winged, afraid of breaking again,

there skies and skies of flight.

I've got a leg and a cane

and my other leg is there.


I am broken as I pass by you tonight
humbled by your infinite heart.

I know the silence of your cold nights

the lone grief of loss.

Like me, you've seen

only the severed heads of stars,

had not a father but his ashes,

walked the streets of exile,

carried burnt corpses on your shoulders.

You've bled as I was scourged,

fed on rocks as I ate seeds and water.


Though our barren land produced
few grains worthy of harvest

though we broke your lasting calm

though my child threw a stone at your window

though I am guilty before the law

fit for grave punishment,

friends, don't dishearten me

give me your blessing, even if it's a lie.

I'll leave behind all that I do not have,

I swear on our Imam,7 I won't take anything

other than the dust of his heram.8


May God bless your piety and grace your lives,
grant you your prayers,

a skyful of blessings, fullness

of your children's piggybanks.

And the bread of your enemies - whoever they are -

may it turn to brick.

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