For my Palestinian sisters
*
For my Palestinian sisters
By : Sufi Mostafavi
When they kill you
I lose the trace of dandelions
When they drive you from your home
I become a wanderer in my own soul
When your parents explode before your very eyes
my dreams are torn to pieces
I sprinkle my bedsheets and pillows with all my perfume
but my room becomes filled with the smell of gunpowder
The minibus that takes me to school everyday
is the same ambulance that carries your corpse
from the refugee camp to the martyrs’ cemetery
The teacher talks to an empty classroom
and the blackboard is a mirror with a memory
that recalls to me nothing but your tearful glance
A bottomless pit opens in the mouth of the TV reporter
which devours everything: the dinner on the table
and my birthday cake with all its lighted candles —
only you remain with the STONES
that your hands and your brother’s hands
would throw at your enemy
Your weapon will always be as vivid as poetry
be it at the bottom of the river
in the heart of the mountain
or in your hands
But their guns, bombs and missiles
will be rusty one day, only good for museums
however much they will want to kill you
however much the dandelions would want to drag me along
in their wake
on the trail of lost footsteps …
© 2007, Sufi Mostafavi, 17 year old daughter of renown Iranian poet,
Farideh Hasanzadeh–Mostafavi.
* Poem and photo send by Farideh Hassanzadeh-Mostafi --"Photo from a film about my daughter's life entitled: "Poet of dandelions" filmed by a prize winning Russian filmmaker.
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Labels: poetry
posted by SB @ 9:09 AM
19 Comments:
Your words in support of the Palestinian sisters are beyond this world of mere praise and recognition of talent for a well-written poem, Soufi! I am so glad that they are on earthfamilyalpha now, too.
Thank you for sharing. That is one talented family!
Kim
here's another poem by an Iranian poet, identified below, which Farideh sent via the WOMPO list yesterday along with her thanks for our readers who send love poems to Iran last week.
SB---
naked ,naked , naked
I am naked like the silences
Among the words of love
and all my wounds are out of love
love ,love , love
I have pushed this floating island
Through hurricanes and volcanos
To reach "disintegration "
as the secret of that unified being
each smallest unit of which
gave birth to the Sun.
Hail to you
O, innocent night!
from the book: "Why should I stop "
Poems by Forough Farrokhzad,Iranian poet(1935-1967)
Selected and Translated by : F.H. Mostafavi
what a beautiful poem. thank you.
Ann F W
Farideh, my sister,
It's with great, great love that I read Sufi's poem (which I've read before). But with each reading, I find new tenderness---and a world vision that is beyond a child's years.
Thanks again.
Love,
Deema
This comment has been removed by the author.
Dear Farideh,
Thanks for forwarding the link. The poem is excellent. Please congratulate Sufi on my behalf. . She really looks very cute. I would love to see how she looks now; please send her recent photo.
Warm wishes,
Surya
note:
Surya Rao is a fine indian poet and chief editor of Muse India, an excellent literary e-magazine.
Editor's note:
Fast editing on blogs allows us to correct, un-correct and again correct documents. It's weird, but also wonderful. I first spelled Sufi's name correctly, then changed it, and now it's right again.
I hope
And Thanks:
to everyone for your comments. And to mr-torki.blogfa.com for introducting us to Iranian readers.
SB
Hi
Very nice and moving. Is it originally in Farsi? Can I read it? Is it published anywhere?
Thanks for sharing the poem with me :-)
Mehdi
note: Mehdi is a fine writer who lives in Canada.His father is Soufi's uncle , a fine translator .
Yours
Farideh
Hi Feridah
This poem is a great experience of writing poetry with a deep sense of humanity. Congratulations and thank you so much.
I may have the opportunity to visit Iran next month.
Best Regards
Soheil Najm
note:
Soheil Najmi is a fine poet and translator from Iraq.
Dearest Mrs. Hasanzadeh
Salam and hope to be fine.
I read the poem;it is wonderful, perfect, marvelous ...
I really enjoyed it.
Congratulations to you for such a daughter, and to your daughter for such a poetry.
I wish you, your nice daughter and your esteemed family, the best in all aspects of your life.
Sincerely yours
Mariam
note: Mariam reads English literature in university .
Farideh,
This is a beautiful poem-- poignant. Your daughter is wise beyond her
years and very talented. Thank you for sharing.
Best,
Melissa
note: Melissa Tuckey is a poet and activist involved in DC Poets Against the War.
Faridehjan,
What a wonderful poem by Sufi! Please congratulate her for me. And I adore her picture - she reminds me of my own children at that age.
Love, and kisses,
Mimi
Mimi Khalvati,born in Iran, is one of the great poets of Britain.
> AZIZZAM,
>
> The poem is SO beautiful,so moving--kisses for your daughter!
> I will give it to some friends....> Kisses,
> Marilyn Krysl
Note: Marilyn Krysl has published seven books of poetry, three of stories, work in The Atlantic, The Nation, The New Republic and other journals, in Best American Short Stories 2000, O. Henry Prize Stories, and the Pushcart Prize Anthology. She is former Director of the Creative Writing Program at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and a founding editor of the literary journal Many Mountains Moving.
These notes from Farideh's and Sufi's friends around the world are exactly what earthfamilyalpha is about --
a global family of people with shared values -- beauty, peace, justice, family
I am very happy with this page! Thanks to everyone.
It is a very powerful poem.
You have such a talented family!
all the best,
John Feffer
Co-Director
Foreign Policy In Focus www.fpif.org
Salaam, Farideh,
This is a wonderful poem, thanks so much for sending it. It's very moving and powerful and that's partly because of the fact that it's a powerful and emotive subject but also because very well written and it successfully captures that difficult secret of composing an effective poem about such a painful topic. When I try to write about this kind of thing I just end up ranting, so all credit to your daughter for focussing her anger so effectively - a la Mahmoud Darwish et al.
Best wishes,
Suhayl
Note:
Suhayl Saadi was born in Yorkshire in 1961 of Afghan-Pakistani parents, and grew up in Glasgow, becoming a medical doctor. He is a widely published novelist, dramatist and poet, and the author of a short story collection, The Burning Mirror (2001), shortlisted for the Saltire Society Scottish First Book of the Year Award, one of the stories in the collection also being awarded second prize in the 1999 Macallan/Scotland on Sunday Short Story Compeititon
FH
Hi Farideh
That is a lovely, lovely poem! Your daughter is very talented. Thank you for sharing it.
Richard
Richard Jeffrey Newman
Two comments:
1) You have a lovely daughter. She looks much younger than 17 years.
2) My heart breaks when people, especially the young, write such sorrowful poems.
Children should be happy, playful and optimistic. Alas, brainless adults have done much harm to children all over the world.
George
note:
George Trialonis is a fine poet and writer from the land of myths: Greece
FH
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