شکست

by Nadia Anjuman

Failure

by Nadia Anjuman

How sincere, how pure

You, with such faith in your blossoming

ready in your chamber of patience

Spring did not come

and you with your airy dreams

only smiled

and looked with your heart toward the future

But sadly

spring never stirred within

and luck didn’t smile on you

and when you found love

the harsh trial of that storm

plucked your bud of hope and

and you snapped before opening

Asad 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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Poetry in Translation

شکست

Failure