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Water by Sepehri
I am posting this serene poem by Sohrab Sepehri (1928-1980), a famous contemporary Iranian poet and painter.Â
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Water
We shouldn’t muddy the water.
A pigeon may drink it down the road
Or in a far away grove a starling may bathe
Or in the village, a jug may be filled.
We shouldn’t muddy the water.
This running water may feed a poplar and wash away sadness from a heavy heart.
A dervish may dip his dry bread in it.
A pretty woman may come to the river bank
We shouldn’t muddy the water
The beauty will be doubled.
What refreshing water!
What limpid river!
How pure the uptown people are
May their springs always boil and their cows always milk!
I have not seen their village.
But, no doubt, god walks along their wattles
The Moon, over there, lights the width of words
No doubt, uptown, the walls are short.
Their people know what a poppy is.
No doubt, over there, blue is blue.
The people know when a flower blooms.
What a village it would be!
May its garden alleys be filled with music!
The people from the head of the river know water.
They did not muddy it,
Neither should we.
Translated by Mahvash Shahegh
Contributed to Jahane Rumi by Ammar Ali Qureshi
October 25th, 2007 at 2:09 pm
Reminds me of those two lines of Bulleh Shah:
Break down the Mosques and break down the Temples
Break not, ever, hearts; for God lives there.
October 27th, 2007 at 2:39 pm
Beautiful!
Talking of Iran, did you read about the Iranian Canadian beauty pageant winner who saved her namesake in Iran from capital punishment for having killed the man who raped her. I wanted to do a post around that, but could not come up with a single line of thought….
November 2nd, 2007 at 7:26 am
Id:
thanks - I didn’t know about the story - will check it up.Do write please
Manas - many thanks - yes the tone is pretty similar - tenderness of the heart is stressed yet again!