

Memory serves as the bedrock of individual and collective identities, anchoring societies and nations in the turbulent seas of history.
In the aftermath of genocidal atrocities, where the very fabric of society is torn asunder, memory stands as a bastion of resistance against oblivion.
For it is through memory that we honor the victims, learn from the past, and chart a path towards reconciliation and renewal.
As the timeless George Santayana adage goes, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
Memory, therefore, is not merely an act of nostalgia, but a sacred duty, a beacon of light guiding men and nations through the darkest of times to a point of historical and moral clarity, as key safeguards against repeating past horrors.
The following poem, inspired by Rwanda’s example, explores a new angle to echoes of memory.
Optimism Blooms
The muted drums
Of remembrance
Fill the air,
A somber rhythm
Echoing our despair.
Each beat, a whisper;
A painful, grieving sigh,
Of lives extinguished
Beneath a clueless sky.
Children's laughter
Silenced by the slaughter;
A million lives;
Of youths and loves
Lost in blazes
Of inhuman decrees.
Each breath lost
A seed sown at cost
In fields of sorrow
Watered by the blood
Shed by hands of hatred.
The world turned away
As brutality held sway
Its ears closed
As a million died;
Its voice for sense
Silenced by indifference.
Time has past
Nudging hope to last.
Yet, echoes of barbarity
Still linger without clarity,
In answer to the wear
Rooted in the heart's despair.
But from these tremors
Of grief, a new day springs,
A fragile blossom
Pushing through ugly things.
Optimism in bloom
Weaving a hopeful thread,
Through fractured memories
And dreams newly bred.
Hope's tender shoots
Defying shadowed gloom,
Reaching for the sun;
Dispelling threats of doom.
For interwoven
With the shadows
Of a chilling past
Are endings of sorrows
And compassion’s thrust,
Washing away tears
Erasing doubts
And chocking fears
As grit emerges
And whispers softly
Calling on the best
Of the human race.
To act in echo
To the call of the sages
To forever
Hold forth
And honor
Their memory.
The author is Rwanda’s former Ambassador to Turkey
April 2025