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by: Manavaz Alexandrian
Bijan Jalali (1928-1999) was born and educated in Tehran and received his BS in French literature.
Jalali's first volume of poetry, Days (1962), portrays the painful growth of an individual style. The poet takes pains to be simple and clear by resorting to concise prose to convey his message. His second volume, Our Hearts and the World (1965), continues the poet's quest for simplicity and directness. The Color of Waters (1971) reflects Jalali's concern for more free forms.
In its unpretentious poems, he reflects moments of pain and boredom by brief words and passing images. His best poems portray vivid images in the mind.
He is the most contemplative modern poet and reflects different philosophical thoughts with an intimate language, which never tires the reader.
Works:
Days, Our Hearts and the World, Water and Sun, The Color of Waters, the Play of Light, Dailies
I want to die
Translated to English by M. Alexandrian
I want to die,
Not that my heart should fail,
And my body grow cold,
And be leveled with earth;
I want to die
Not that I should not hear any voice,
Or the sun will fail to shine on me,
Or I grow blind
To the moon and stars.
I seek a quite extraordinary death,
Like the water turning into vapor,
Like the blossoming of the seed,
Like the setting of the sun,
Like a sky which is clouded.
I want to be annihilated,
to be born again in another world,
A world which I have not yet named,
A world which I have not completely tried,
A world resembling the world of imagination
In which everything is ordinary,
Except the fear of annihilation,
Except wretchedness,
Except loneliness.
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