For Shahbanu Farah Pahlavi

In the name of my motherland, Iran... For the mother of my country, Iran's Shahbanu, Farah Pahlavi, @ShahbanouFarah Mother, forgive me for never kissing your hand or speaking to you. Forgive me. Through these turbulent years of pain and distance, Mother, what have those unworthy people done? How have you seen so much cruelty and betrayal and still forgiven? How can you speak of Iran, after so many years away, and still be filled with hope and the will to rebuild? I wish you could teach me how to be so strong. Teach me how to be an Iranian who loves his country. Teach me how to be myself, to be Iranian, not the person those unworthy people want me to be. I wish you could teach me to brand honor on our hearts, not superstition and hypocrisy on our foreheads. Mother, on the day you left this land beside my Shahanshah, the sunlight turned away from it. The lion of this country fell silent. Dignity departed, and both the Lion and the Sun on our national flag faded. Mother, what is this love that I and millions of Iranians feel for you? Whenever we hear your voice, we grow calm without knowing why. We find hope. We sense the scent of life and of Iran, and the colors of freedom. Mother, I swear by the ever-Persian Gulf that your children and I will become light and overcome the darkness. We will relight the lamp in our burned home. We will make our Iran Iran again. Long live Iran. #جاویدشاه