41 The Kamikaze’s Tear
دمعة الانتحاري
Bagdad |
Irak
Arabic
Behind the scenes
This text was born from a reflection on the tragedy of children or very young adults who are indoctrinated to the point of becoming instruments of a deadly ideology. Lives manipulated, destinies shattered.
I chose to imagine the scene through the eyes of a survivor in a market in Baghdad, where everyday life suddenly collapses into horror.
The presence of the little girl and her white ribbon coming loose embodies that destroyed innocence. The tear frozen on her cheek becomes a silent symbol of all those lives cut short – too soon, too unjustly.
The text does not seek to explain violence, but to remind us of what it destroys above all: simple lives that should have continued.
Echoes of the world
The title of the text contains the Arabic word دمعة (damʿa), which means “tear.” Like many Arabic words, it is built from a root of three consonants – here د م ع (D-M-ʿ) – associated with the act of crying.
This word also has a striking phonetic proximity to دم (dam), which means “blood.” In Arabic poetry, images of tears and blood often appear together to evoke human suffering.
In this story, a single tear remains frozen on the little girl’s cheek in the midst of chaos.
A detail that is almost invisible… yet holds the full weight of the scene’s emotion.
And you, which words make you think of both joy and sadness?
To reflect and capture your thoughts, turn to the dedicated pages in the book.
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