Our committee member Vivienne Glance recently met nine-year-old Ayla Lewis at a poetry event. Her poem was so powerful for such a young person that Viv invited her to speak at our recent event, Poems of War and Peace.
Ayla’s mother, Pegah Kooshesh from Iran, gave us some background to her story:
On 28 February this year, on the first day of the renewed US–Israel war on Iran, a school was hit by a Tomahawk missile. It was a double tap that deeply affected me and brought back many feelings from the past. I tried to return to writing poems, and Ayla, who was observing everything around her, was also affected.
After a few months, I met a group of Iranians in a pro-Palestine rally who shared the same sadness. Together, we decided to create an exhibition showing the effect of war on children, drawing from the experiences some of us had lived through as children during the Iran–Iraq war. The idea came together quickly, and within three weeks we had to make it happen because it would otherwise clash with two months of religious holidays.
We chose to keep the focus on peace rather than war. One of my friends sent me three translated lines of a poem from Farsi, which I read to Ayla. She said she could add to it, perhaps change it a little, and then continue it. Day by day, she worked on it and helped it grow. Unlike me, who unexpectedly became the host of the exhibition because of the original host’s emergency, Ayla was ready. She read her poem publicly for the first time at the No to War exhibition.
Ayla’s poem – Peace
Peace is a child asleep.
Peace is warm bread on the table.
Peace is the sound of laughter in a schoolyard and the joy of children playing without fear.
Peace is loved ones sitting together beneath the shade of trees.
Peace is a time when nothing hurts us, and no child is afraid of tomorrow.
Peace is a time when we plant trees in the street, fill our cities with kindness, and make the world a home of books, music, and hope.
Peace is when my friends give me their hands, and we walk forward together.
Peace is justice, compassion, and the promise that every child can grow, learn, and dream.
Peace is all of these things, and nothing less.