Poetry &Sprituality Entropy | 10 Jun 2008
Illuminations
My learned and enlighten friend Michele introduced me to works of Persian Poet Sohrab Sepehri – The Painter of Rhymes. Wish to share his subterranean & charming poem translated by Jerome Clinton.
Illuminations
A cloudless sky,
no breath of wind,
I sit beside the courtyard pool.
The slow stirrings of the goldfish,
the radiance and I,
the earth and water—
Life clusters in a fresh washed bunch.
My mother is cleaning sweet basil leaves.
Bread and white cheese, a cloudless sky,
the moist satin of petunia blossoms.
Salvation is near, tucked between the leaves
of the courtyard’s flowers.
Light in a brass bowl
pours out such caresses.
The ladder brings morning down
from the top of the high walls,
and spreads it on the ground.
Behind each thing’s secret smile
there is a small window in time’s encircling wall
through which my face appears.
There are things I do not know,
but if I pluck that sprig
I know that I will die.
I will rise up to the zenith,
wings and feathers sprouting from me.
I see a way in the darkness.
I am a lantern.
I am one with light and sand,
with a forest of trees.
I am the road, the bridge, the river and waves.
The shadow of a leaf on water
fills my endless solitude.
on 10 Jun 2008 at 3:31 pm 1.Don Iannone said …
Lovely poem.
Paints a picture as only heartfelt words can do.
Namaste
Perhaps some of my photographs may interest you:
Don Iannone: http://www.flickr.com/photos/don-iannone/sets/
on 12 Jun 2008 at 9:49 am 2.michele roohani said …
thank you for the kind trust in my “abilities” dear friend…
sepehri (uber-poet) remains an enigma like most real poets i guess – his image changes if read in persian, french or english as can be seen in this site: http://www.sohrabsepehri.com/
“If you come to visit me
Come gently and slowly lest the fragile china
Of my solitude cracks”
به سراغ من اگر ميآييد،
نرم و آهسته بياييد، مبادا كه ترك بردارد
چيني نازك تنهايي من
“Si vous venez m’y chercher,
Venez-vous-en donc lentement et doucement
De crainte que ne se raye
La porcelaine de ma solitude.” Sohrab Sepehri
on 13 Jun 2008 at 2:28 pm 3.Purnima said …
A very picturesque imagery painted in words. Tugs at the little corners of the heart.