Traitor

by Bänoo Zan / June 15th, 2025

I am a traitor
to what I love the most: my land—
left it to tyrants
to oppress the ones I left behind

I am a traitor—
rejoice the enemy
has killed the commanders
who have killed my people

I am a traitor
to mourning mothers
for I mourn the death of commanders
who defended the land
but killed their loved ones

I am a traitor to myself
when I join this camp or that

I am a traitor to Allah
when I let His proxies
claim the Word

Every grain of sand is a planet
pure and gory

Every person is a verse
who betrayed their prophecy

I mourn for all
dead or alive
on this land or that

May the god I have forsaken
forgive my sins
against myself—
those I love
and those I hate—

Bänoo Zan is a poet, librettist, translator, teacher, editor and poetry curator, with more than 250 published poems and poetry-related pieces as well as three books including Songs of Exile and Letters to My Father. She is the founder of Shab-e She’r (Poetry Night), Toronto’s most diverse and brave poetry reading and open mic series (inception: 2012). Her social media links are: LinkedIn; Instagram; Facebook; Twitter Bänoo, along with Cy Strom, is the co-editor of the anthology Woman Life Freedom: Poems for the Iranian Revolution. Read other articles by Bänoo.

This article was posted on Sunday, June 15th, 2025 at 8:00am and is filed under Poetry.