Your smile travels faster than light
A brilliant way to defy continents of separation.
It is not just the river and I…
Cyprus trees listen to the wind for your voice,
And golden ripe oranges long for your hands.
Alleyways unfold our desire for a walk.
How can you “not be” here
In so many different ways
So often?
Shiraz, January 10, 2001
Uncomplaining,
Acquainted with pain,
Simple.
Always returning from the market
Wrapped in her black chador
Carrying a bundle of something
Someone needs desperately.
Always leaving quietly
All footprints erased
Except clean glasses
Washed clothes
Piles of cooked rice
And a spotless sitting room.
Her forehead imprinted
With a constant headache
That will not give in to painkillers
(Not even the American kind).
Her fingers curled permanently
Around the wooden broom
With the determination of a lonely woman
Who expects little love.
That her kids have deserted school,
That her husband is an addict
Who accuses her of plotting to poison him,
Attract little surprise.
There she goes
Day after day
Expecting little love
And sweeping the sitting room
With broad, steady strokes
Her sun burnt face
The silent city of pain
Crumpled into a distorted map.
“Might you have American vitamins?”
My daughter looks so pale!”
I have learnt over the years
Not to be without some.
She beams like a victorious queen.
“Why don’t you take a taxi home today?”
I exploit the opportunity for contact
Slipping a folded bill into her pocket
With the bottle of vitamins.
As our eyes meet
We both know
She will buy a cream cake
And walk the long way home.
Shiraz, January 4, 2001
Alleyways,
Stony echoes of anticipation
Left petrified
In between layers of time
Familiar as the lines on the palm of my hand.
Alleyways,
Vibrant with the indescribable pleasure
Of running into things
Totally known.
And new
As the shock of returning home.
The twisting and turning of memory
Unfolding before my feet.
Faces, faces, eyes
Cozy, deep, half-lit shops
Stacks of soap, sugar cubes
Boxes of cigarette, tea
And cookies
Cookies that hide entire childhoods
in one bite.
Alleyways,
The lifeline to the garden
Alive with fragrance of orange
The fragrance of orange
Spread in the air
The air
Saturated with sunshine and silent prayers
Emanating from
Half-burnt white candles – personal wishes aflame –
In God’s presence.
Shiraz, Dec.30, 2000
Held up to gods
In the palm of a giant’s hands
A rare handcrafted marble cup
Overflowing with sunshine
Defined at the outer edges
With tall cypress trees
That line up at dawn reverently
To interpret the horizons
In their meticulous green thoughts
My city is, still,
That cup of sunshine
I can drink to the last drop
And be thirsty for more.
Shiraz, Dec.21, 2000
