Tag Archives: harmony

by Lillian Farzan-Kashani (Santa Monica, CA)

Here I am

Watering the memories

Of reunions & separations

Love and grief

And surely all in between

While some have been able to exhale

Following October 8th

I fear it’s a facade

Tension lives here, still.

Some hostages freed, but horror flashes through me yet

On this walk, momentarily

I’m soothed by the sight of a pomegranate

Bursting with life above me

A living reminder of sacred potential. Multitudes of good.

And dare I say, of Peace

Soon, again, bewildered

I pass through olive branches

What an ironic symbol to bear

Knowing our neighbors are being terrorized

Amidst their ancient tradition of harvest

How is this OK?

How convenient for the self righteous ones on the hilltops to forget

Perhaps the most important out of the 613 seeds

We are to love our neighbors as ourselves. 

Far from it. They destroy themselves while tormenting others.

Time to overthrow.

Enough of the corrupt. The systemic injustice

Making a fool out of us.

Invest in the people on the ground

Return to tending to one another

Can you recall that far back?

My soul knows it’s true

We weren’t meant to live like this

Instead, we can invest in the land together

Holy, some say fruitful

An abundance, if we treat her right

In harmony

We can share the bounty, collectively contributing

We can come to rely on one another

Share the olives, the pomegranates

My mother had casually mentioned

Children are the fruit of love

And so we ought to protect

Even the smallest of seedlings

A whole universe therein

Writer by day and therapist by night–depending on the time zone–Lillian Farzan-Kashani is a bit of a digital nomad and much of her work as a poet is rooted in being a daughter of Iranian Jewish immigrants. Relatively new to all of this, her recent and forthcoming work can be found in Songs of the Earth by the LA Public Library (2024), Verse Virtual (July and November 2025), and Silver Birch Press (July and August 2025). Read more about her professional and creative pursuits at https://www.lillianfarzan.com/