It's so wonderful to go back to memory lane and gain some perspective. I, for once, always do. At times, I feel: wow I was so immature back then! I've come a long way! Yet, other times, I feel, wow! I wrote that? I said that? I'm quite awesome! Well, just today, when I was looking through an old email to find something else, I found this treasure! I took a Translation course in Graduate school and as our "final project" we had to translate either prose or poetry and I translated a few Persian poems to English. I'm reading it now and I couldn't be more proud of myself...
There were 8 poems in total and I will post 4 of them.
Poet: Maryam Heydarzadeh
"Don't Grieve Traveler”
Don't grieve traveler, here,
even we are foreign
It’s been a lifetime since we
witnessed the moonlight glisten
Without you, our spring or
autumn it makes no difference to us
Don't you see that all my
poems have become gloomy!
Don't grieve traveler; the
weather's not bad there
But here, the clouds don’t
even rain
Don't grieve traveler; how I
adore your heart-ache
That sparkle in your
beautiful eyes, I adore as a keepsake
Don't grieve traveler; it's
bitter, being far away
I myself know how patient you
are; don’t give up
Don't grieve traveler; you
will, again, soon return
In your absence, we’ve
accomplished nothing worthwhile
Don't grieve traveler;
grieving is useless
About your pain, I know that
everyone is clueless
Don't grieve traveler; it’s
mid-March already
You will return in spring;
there’s not much left, so smile
Don't grieve traveler; it's
not always so bad
My dear, you’re not always
this far
Don't grieve traveler,
grieving is not what angels do
Traveling is a test; I swear,
it’s no trouble for you
Don't grieve traveler; it's a
rebirth
Don't grieve traveler; don't
grieve my delight
Don't grieve traveler; you
are heaven itself
In the hopes that one day you’ll come back and
stay
----------------
“Solitude of a Poet”
I wish, in the village, plenty of love would be
In the bazaar of honesty, inexpensiveness would
be
I wish once in a while, we would be graceful
with each other
Perhaps briefly, but simple and in disguise would
be
I wish in respect to the hearts of travelers
every night
In the most transparent memory, a gathering
would be
I wish the ocean would lessen his pain a bit
That he would lend it to us, in case any
distress would be
I wish when we answered to the thirst of a
lilac
The attitude of yours and mine and our tones
more humane, would be
Like Hafiz who is full of miracles and
inspiration
I wish the color of our nights, more mystical
as well, would be
How much we wrote poetry for the rain
Neglectful that the crazy heart was already
full of rain
I wish Sohrab[1]
had not left this early
Our hearts, full of talk of this Kashani[2]
poet, would be
I wish hearts would become full of Nima[3]
fairytales
And in memory of him, the moon glowing all
night long, would be
I wish the name of all little girls in here
The names of Persian dewed-flowers, would be
I wish the questioning eyes of people
Less into this heartless and materialistic
world, would be
I wish the world of our hearts, one of these
nights
Into anything that you want and know, would be
If our hearts ever soar I wish we could pray
That the secret of this poem hidden in this
last verse would be
[1] Sohrab is a famous Persian mythical
character by Ferdowsi
[2] City in Iran
[3] Famous deceased Iranian poet who’s full
name was: “Nima Yushij”. He was the first poet to have invented the style of
“she’re no” literally meaning “New Poetry”
----------------
Poet: Forough Farrokhzadeh
“I’m an Iranian
Woman”
My country, the
enchanted land
Oh heart of the Middle
East
Your name, your
history
Your men from their
quarters
The immortal
I am an Iranian
woman
Your kind of
Iranian
I’m both patient
and zealous
An infant from
your womb
I am an Iranian
woman
Neighbor and
from the same generation as Shirin[1]
Sister of
Tahmineh[2]
Like the story
of Pooran and Parvin[3]
I am an Iranian
woman
From a
civilization
Born in Pars
Like the ocean,
I roar
I am the gulf—
Until forever the
Persian Gulf
I am an Iranian
woman
My eyes full of
purity and shyness
As high as a
hundred Sivand [4]dams
I have water
behind my eyes
I am an Iranian
woman
I’ll build you
with the brick of my soul
With my bones,
I’ll make a
hundred pillars to reach your ceiling
I am an Iranian
woman
Your kind of
Iranian
I’m both patient
and zealous
An infant from
your womb
[1] Shirin is a mythical character in Persian
poetry, equivalent of Juliet from Romeo & Juliet
[2] Tahmineh is also a mythical character
(mother of Rostam in “Rostam & Sohrab” by Ferdowsi)
[3] Pooran & Parvin are both really famous
Persian poets
[4] Name of a dam in Shiraz, Iran that is supposed to be built soon
------------------------
Poet: Maryam Heydarzadeh
“If you leave
me”
If you leave me,
I will take to the desert
I will leave the
entire copse that is on the ground to insanity
If you leave me,
I will lose myself
For a lifetime,
I will make you ashamed of what people say
If you leave me,
I’ll become the heart of the sea
I will break
sun’s pride with the snow of my dreams
If you leave me,
I will just become a wanderer
Briefly let me
tell you, it will be the end of life for me
If you go, I
will make complaints of you to the ocean
Without you, I
will make the entire copse in the world disappear
If you leave me,
my life would just darken
The next thing I
know someone will say that your heart is with another
If you leave me,
the chandeliers will grieve
They will then
make their complains of you to the lovebirds
If you go,
shorebirds will be fed up with their existence
It is then that
hunters will catch them
If you go, the
ocean is full of tears and in need of fish
Our city nights,
like your lovely eyes, are black
If you go, one
night, in my dream, I will burn the ocean
I will break the
ladder to the sky regardless of its light
If you go,
butterflies will blow out the candles
Caged canaries
will forget their hearts
If you go, the
eyelids of flowers will become wet from the sorrow of your love
Someone else’s
heart like mine is without news of your eyes
If you leave me,
our windows will close
A heart full of
dreams will tire from life
If you go,
insanity will never again leave us
Don’t go, let me
again see you from the window
If you go, I
will be left with the games of destiny
That it left me
in hell and sent you away to heaven
If you go, I
will complain to the night sky
One night I will
sit and pray to God until morning
If you go, the
birds will not return to their nests
Without you,
which bird knows its way of returning home?
If you leave me,
I will make turmoil by the clouds
For the death of
the flowers, I will have to find an excuse
If you leave me,
the jasmines will have a crack
Will the dews
even have patience on the roses?
If you go,
people will point me out to each other
They will ask
each other what they have heard about me
If you go,
everyone will think our love was just a temptation
Stay, so that we
can show everyone that our love is holy
Even if just for
that, stay with me until forever
If you go,
they’ll say: you see, here’s what happens
We want none of it: neither pain nor love
If you go, they
wouldn’t know that maybe it is happiness for you
They don’t know
that pleasure of happiness could be in difficulties
Even though when
you go, you won’t see me anymore,
Even if you
want, you would have to wait until the season of doomsday
But I beg you, I
swear on your life that is the most precious,
With one look of
yours, you take me to the other side of the world
If you can, go
somewhere to make your dreams come true
Or did you give
your heart to someone else already?
Go, and I will
live life with your memories, somehow
Sometimes from
enthusiasm of you, I break my heart into pieces
Even though
you’re gone, I still see you by the table of Haft Sin
Don’t grieve;
our world is an infidel hyacinth
Whatever we
suffer from is knowledge
By the way, if
you want to go, am I going to be able to take it?
I’m the one who
has to let you go to roving
If you go, I
will follow you until the pinnacle of the sky
Then I’ll see
all, so don’t go, stay with me
Is this what you
want, that I will be wandering the streets
When one day,
you go without me somewhere for your pleasures?
If you go, then
you will return to see there’s no Maryam left
Then you would
have to put flowers on Maryam’s grave
If you go, I
will become insane and depressed
I will destroy
my heart’s dreams
If you go, a
life will be missing here
Stay for the
sake of a heart that belongs to Maryam
If you go, my
prayers will come after you again
How I adore you
and love and the thought of your journey
[i] Farhad is a famous mythical character in
the love story of “Shirin and Farhad” similar to “Romeo and Juliet”; Farhad is
the Iranian Romeo
[ii] The Twenty Pillars is a historical site in
Kermanshah, Iran
[iii] Norooz, literally means “New Day” which is
the name of the celebration of the Persian New Year
[iv] Haft Sin, is a tradition in Norooz, which
we set seven symbolic things on the table that start with “s”
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