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Esmail Shahroudi
Poems
Iran
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Translated to English by Manavaz Alexadrian
Exertion
Inspired by Symphony No. 5, Beethoven
O... city gatekeeper!,
Open the gate! -
- Unbar the bar -
For I cannot
Return.
They have shut
The gate of love and life
In my face,
And they have filled my heart
With pain and regret.
I have remained lonely,
Lonely,
Lonely,
And disappointments and frustrations have caused me to become a hermit,
Lonely,
Lonely,
Lonely!
But I shall leave behind
The wreckage of this loneliness
And like the cloud and the air
I will become free,
And I will cross
The valley of terror
Which lies between now
And the future world;
And I will unfold the high fountains of hope
To pour drops of victory,
To pour waves of color,
To sing epics,
And to press
The throat
Of my many years of suffering,
And bring down
My disturbing slumber of disappointment
From the height,
Now!
O... city gatekeeper!,
Open the gate! -
- Unbar the door -
For I can't
Return.
And now
With this angry tempest the wind
Here
Returns to anything bearing a name
From the farthest point in this plain
From a loud shriek that lifts
Another clay wall set on the clay wall of battlement of terror...;
Open up!
Gatekeeper,
Open
the gate!
Open
So that you can see in my lively exertion,
A man,
And read the suffering,
And hear about a love!
Open up,
I will calm your tired expectation
With the sound of my footsteps.
Open up,
My stranger,
For I have trodden a long way to the realm of friendship,
And have suffered much,
Open up!
Open up
Before the burning and restless approaching chill
Has not uttered its last warning;
Open up!
Open up,
Gatekeeper, I say! -
Open
The
With...
The Arch of Triumph
I pour
All the petals of the pine
For the sake of your love,
And carry the cross of my suffering
On my shoulder
For the sake of this heart which is red! -
So that my past blood
Shall wash
The cobblestone street
Which you will cross,
And the person of my recollections
Will die.
Should the message of the land of expectation
Carry your glance
From the labyrinth of its roads,
You will sit beside me!
And now I
Have built
The arch of triumph of the constellation of my aspirations
across your route
So that no desert of bewilderment
Will obstruct your passage,
And to fill
My memory
With the secret music of your steps.
They washed
The future blood
From the paved street of expectation
And the cross of pains
And they removed
The arch of triumph of aspirations
From constellations,
Because
She
Had already crossed the street!
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