A Place to Die

By Dr Jan Best de Vries:

Mesopotamia Academy
opening ceremony, September 2014

In memory of my soulmate Nanny

The compound’s walls are thick and high

lying on a hill overlooking the plain

from where islamic fanatics are expected to come

just one gate in them is guarded day and night by two Peshmergas

on the roof of the large building inside the view is wide

nearby a tapeh rises from the plain a second is still visible

Here on the Kurdish soil of Rojava’s canton Jazira

Mesopotamia Academy was founded on 2 September 2014

here I teach my students young and old their history

here reigns friendship and love in the face of death

here we laugh and dance in the evenings

here it is good to die independent and free at last

Erbil, January 1, 2015

Dr. Jan Best de Vries is an archaeologist and historian, decipherer of the so-called Byblos Script from Aleppo and Alalakh (‘How to Decipher the Byblos Script’, Aspekt Publishers 2014, ISBN978-946-153-420-0)