10.4. Fleeing from Death Nowhere To Go by Rafael Huseinov

Winter 2002 (10.4)
Pages 20-21

Article from Spring 1994

Fleeing from Death
Nowhere To Go
by Rafael Huseinov

Above: Armenian military forces invaded the Azerbaijani territory of Nagorno-Karabakh and its surrounding regions beginning in 1992. This refugee mother and child were forced to flee from their home in Aghdam, one of the region's largest cities. May 1993 (Photo: Litvin).

Fleeing from death,
But leaving behind our lives.
Fleeing from our past,
But leaving behind our future.
Fleeing our homes,
Running towards Hope.

But there was no time
To carry such an extra burden
In the stampede.

So we rid ourselves of
The heavy burden of Hope
Just as we had rid ourselves
Of the other things we couldn't take
-Our cemeteries,
-Our homes and hearths,
-Our trees and flowers.

Fleeing...
There was fear, blood and death
behind us.
But there was nothingness in front-
Not even time.
Running towards
-emptiness,
-void,
-timelessness.

Somewhere inside our brains and hearts,
In the hidden depths of our souls,
We felt that this fleeing
Was even more horrible
Than remaining where we had been.

But there was no way out:
We were fleeing even from God.

From now on,
Wherever we go
We will be strangers,
We will be guests,
We will be wanderers in an alien place.
And though none of us is
an ordinary human being,
We share a common name-
"Refugee."

Who can dare comprehend
Our unfathomable pain?

___

Translation by Tamam Bayatly