A Journey to Iran-Aug.19th, 2015. 【 A Rose Immortal -- Shiraz (Part 3)】 All of these were beyond my knowledge. Luckily, with the explanation of a Persian guy, I finally acquainted myself with the relics here. This statue was in memory of Khwaju Kermani, a contemporary of Hafez, and they were quite much of a muchness. As for the words carved on the wall, it is a verse adapted from his poetry. The general meaning, as I recall, goes like :"You ask me where I come from, but my dear visitor, when I saw your beautiful face, I forgot where I actually came from." There I stood under the statue of Khwaju Kermani for a long time, and didn't feel any ambience of his demise. Rumi once wrote:" ...for the one who knows me, there is no dying." Looking around, I saw people sitting next to the statue discussing different opinions; I saw lovers sitting under trees, hand in hand, reading books together; I saw kids frolicking around and a mother greeting me with a warm smile... My surprise was beyond my words, because there people coexisted with historical relics, yet those relics were still well-maintained and showed no signs of decadence. Unlike China, in which tourists have a morbid impulse to carve their names on historical sites, people in Iran are more aware of the protection of their cultural heritage. Khwaju Kermani did not die, neither did all those poets, because their souls are lingering in the palms of lovers, in the eyes of the beholders, in the discussion among friends, in the breeze under the sun, and in the golden sand of Persia. On departing the Quran Gate, I thought it was necessary to fasten my hijab, so I sat on a bench, fumbling with my hair. All of a sudden, two beautiful Shirazi girls ran to me and asked me several questions in English, like my name, my nationality, my marital status etc..., then they ran back to a young man standing under the tree which was opposite to me. He scratched his head and smiled, saying something, he then sent the girls to me again. "That is our brother." said one of the girls, "He wants to ask you how old you are." she blinked. "24." I smirked, then as they rushed to their brother again, I fled immediately. Really I didn't plan to get married in Iran, haha!