Near A Distant Realm | Sohrab Sepehri | Ali Salami

There was a woman at the door

Standing with a body as ever

I approached her:

Her image flooded my eyes.

Speech turned into wings of passion and knowledge.

Shadow turned into sun.

 

I walk out in the sun

I was carried away by pleasing signs:

I went as far as childhood and sands

As far as delightful mistakes

As far as abstract objects

I neared picturesque waters

And trees full of pears

With an ever-present trunk

I breathed with the wet truth.

My feeling of wonder mingled with the tree.

I perceived I abutted on the throne of God

I felt a bit distraught.

Man goes to seek solace

When he feels crestfallen.

I did too.

 

I went as far as the table

The yogurt’s taste, the fresh green plants

There was bread to eat with a cup and saucer:

My throat pined for a goblet of vodka.

 

I returned:

The woman was there at the door

Standing with a body of deadly wounds.

An empty can

Kept paring away

The water’s throat.

©Ali Salami 2017