پربار

by Nadia Anjuman

Rich

by Nadia Anjuman

One day my thoughts, instead of a chill

will bring fireworks

One day my eyes will be wide open

such that

in seeing the shrunken leaves of the ocean, they continue flowing

One day my hands will become weavers

and upon life’s wasteland of a body

spin a gown with wheat and flowers

One day a lullaby

will bring sleep to the weary eyes of homeless children

One day I will sing praise

to the spirit of fire

with soothing songs of rain

On that day

I will write a rich and exalting poem

with the sweetness of a tree’s fruit and the beauty of the moon

Sarataan 1380 / Summer 2001

translated from Dari by Diana Arterian & Marina Omar

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Nadia Anjuman was an Afghani poet and the author of Gul-e-dodi / Dark Flower (2002) and Yek Sàbad Délhoreh / An Abundance of Worry (2006). She died in November 2005 after a physical altercation with her husband at the age of 25. In 2007, Anjuman’s complete works were published in the original Persian-Dari by Iran Open Publishing Group.

Diana Arterian is the author of the chapbook Death Centos (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2013), and her writing and translation has appeared or is forthcoming in Aufgabe, Black Warrior Review, and The Volta, among others. She is a Poetry Editor at Noemi Press, and creator and Managing Editor of Ricochet, a publisher of poetry and prose.

Marina Omar was born in Afghanistan and has worked as an interpreter for Afghan refugee families. She is currently a doctoral candidate in Foreign Affairs at the University of Virginia.

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پربار

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