Alan Whitehorn: two poems about Hrant Dink

Hrant Dink



In the fields of Anatolia,
another,
more recent victim of genocide
joins his ancestors.
As we did before,
we mourn the loss.


January 20, 2007



Remembering Hrant Dink




Almost a century ago,
amidst the crumbling Ottoman Empire,
Turkish militants slaughtered over a million Christian Armenians,
piercing forever the heart and soul of the Armenian nation.
These Young Turk revolutionaries ruthlessly grabbed
the victims’ ancestral lands and possessions.
Today,
the Turkish government denies that its predecessors
even committed a genocide.
And yet,
this state is ever so fearful that the beam of truth will pierce the cloud of lies.
The government in Ankara prosecutes the few brave writers and activists
who dare to question the regime’s repeated lies.
Meanwhile,
fanatics try to finish the deeds of long ago.
An assassin’s bullets
rip through yet another Armenian.
The mindless brutality continues to shock.But the spirit of one special man and a nation survive.
An empathetic chorus cries out:
“We remember. We do not forget.
Truth will prevail.”
And so, we raise our voice in peaceful protest.
We remember the multitude of dead, as if it were yesterday,
and the ever so brave man who died today.
If need be,
we will even mourn tomorrow’s dead.
But we will no longer be silent victims.
No more.
Never again.
We say ‘Never again’.
We remember
that piercing pain.
We remember.
And we are resolute.
Hrant,
we remember
your brave resistance.

Hrant Dink,
another victim of genocide,
but not a silent one.
Your voice inspires us still.
We remember.


January 19-20, 2007



These poems appear with the kind permission of Alan Whitehorn. His new book Ancestral Voices: Identity, Ethnic Roots and a Genocide Remembered will be published April 2007 by Hybrid Publishing Co-op Ltd., Canada