One two three
Yeki boud yeki naboud
There was someone there was no one
Our stories have always started this way.
We played together a lot, a lot.
One two three
Gheyr az khoda hich kas naboud
There was no one, only the good Lord.
Our stories have always started this way.
We lived together a lot, a lot.

We played hide-and-seek.

One of us always counted one, two, three … always one of us put their hands over their eyes.
Always one of us hid their eyes under their hands …
Always the other one of us went into hiding.

Hiding behind the trees,
in the dark,
humid, hot afternoons,
in the back yard of the grandparents’ house,
in the blue azure basin of uncle’s house,
Behind the common wall with the neighbors’ house,
At the back of the dark wardrobe in granny’s room,
among her fabrics and clothes that smelled like rose water,
behind the “korsi” scenting notes of jasmine … we played hide-and-seek
we were playing
you were hiding your eyes,
I was hiding my body
I was hiding
A lot, we played together, a lot.
You were the neighbors’ child.
Neighbors of the common wall.

A lot, we lived together, a lot.

Yeki boud yeki naboud.
At the end of the night
Yeki boud yeki naboud
At the end of the raindrops
Yeki boud yeki naboud
At the end of the letters
Syllables
Words
Yeki boud yeki naboud
At the end of life
At the end of our lives
Yeki boud yeki naboud
At the end of this life

Yeki boud yeki naboud
At your fingertips
Fingers of your hands
those hands you no longer use to hide your eyes
Those hands you use to pull the strings

Yeki boud yeki naboud
This life to be taken
This life to be negotiated
This life to be executed
This life which is only a life
This life that you take
With your hands
A life
Someone else’s life
Always one of us is someone else
A life of some kind

Without the smell of rose water
Without the jasmine notes
Without the common wall
Without the hide-and-seek game
Without our memories
Without you or me playing
Shouting bliss
Lives to imagine
Lives to play for
Lives to draw
Innocent lives,
lightsomeYeki boud yeki naboud
Yeki naboud
With your hands
The life you have taken
Yeki naboud
I continued to play
hide-and-seek,
I counted alone
I hid,
I got lost
I found myself
I found myself
Behind my hands.

You took one life, two lives three lives
The lives
One two three
Yeki naboud
Our stories have always started like this
At the end of this life,
There was someone there was no one
Resilience.

Artist’s statement:

What is left of the human being when he or she has endured years and years of suffering?
Pain, loss, grief, distance, emptiness, separation, these are some of the subjects that accompanied me in writing this poem, as well as in creating this performance.

In the life of each person, many people appear. Sometimes these people are just passing through, but their passage leaves a lifelong imprint. Sometimes our long-time friends, our childhood friends choose other paths. We evolve differently. It can happen that our childhood friend with whom we played hide-and-seek is at one point in life in front of us and on the opposite side. How do we deal with the disappointments that life’s turning points reserve for us? How do we deal with the memories of another life that accompany us and we find ourselves living in the past?

In this poetic performance I aim to find emotions that accompany us throughout our lives. I try to make a journey between the time before and now. To bring to light the grief that accompanies us after each disastrous event in life, in front of which we find ourselves powerless.
What saves us ? Would it not be resilience?

Pictures/video credits : Fondation Thalie