Volume 73, No. 8, February 24, 2007

A Selection of Poems by Zahrad

Translated by Tatul Sonentz

R A I N

You cannot ride the subway
Poor drops of rain
You cannot enter the home of a war profiteer
A mansion’s roof does not leak

I and the likes of me love you
You bring affluence
The price of bread drops

But I am sleepy
At least do not drip on my pillow


***


T H E B I G C I T Y

Everything is big in the big city
pleasure is big
sorrow is big
like the avenues and the buildings

And those who are little people
Will never feel at home in the big city


***


DO NOT CRY LIGHT DO NOT CRY

Do not cry light do not cry
One who drops from the sky does not cry

Do not cry that you dropped into a poor
home
You will be given a place of honor

Do not cry light do not cry
Let the lights that did not drop into hovels cry

***

H U M A N F L E S H
To Sargis Poghosian

When they erected buildings on both sides
The street was born

Large were the buildings – so splendid – that when they asked
I am not a street he said – I am an avenue

And every day personalities in motor vehicles drove
And went on stroking it with their splendor

The street bore this rich stream – these
luxuriant ornaments
On its skin – like gems

It seemed everything – swift and glossy – was
like a feast
It knew opulence

They came and they went – and always their
traces vanished
It never forgot one thing

That one day a man passed barefoot and
diffident
That day the avenue knew human flesh


***


F O R E I G N

To Kiko those sectors of the city were foreign
Tall tall foreign buildings
The people – the beautiful foreign women

A girl in a frock came along
She put five coins in his hand –
They were foreign people – foreign –
Kiko had not come to beg


***


A H M E T E F E N D I S T R E E T

Kiko is afraid to pass by Ahmet Effendi Street
Ahmet Efendi Street is dark
There are couples kissing in the dark

Kiko is afraid to pass by Ahmet Effendi Street
His loneliness invades his mind


***


M A R D I G R A S

Clowns drop from the skies
Clowns drop from trees
From the tall tall buildings
From Kiko’s childhood days
Clowns jump out from the pavement

Clown clown
All together the clowns applaud Kiko —
Patches of all colors
Two inches of beard
They took Kiko for a clown

***

A SIEVE OF WATER

Let me owe you a sieve of water
— let it be a game where
saber
sword
flames
are covered
with moss in silence

in the tepid and humid south wind
let all starships
approach the harbor
— and let the pearly sea
not be disturbed
when with disillusion and a sieve of water
I run shore to shore

Let me owe you a sieve of water


***


A B O U T S O I L


He loved soil a lot
Kiko was like a star fallen from the sky
he wished to lay down cuddling the soil
he wished to hug the soil – to hug marvel at
he died – he had his wish

But — I do not know why – the stars are crying
The bridge is crying
— In life Kiko had no other intimates —


***


S T R I P T E A S E

Kiko has got hold of eyeglasses
Wherever he looks he sees blue
The sky blue – the seas blue
The eyes of the girl he loves blue
Wherever he looks he sees blue

He looks around with his glasses on –
You say the seas were always blue
You say the skies were already blue
He does not believe – I just saw it he says —
He looks all around the glasses on

Kiko has got hold of eyeglasses
NOW he sees blue as blue


***


A D V E N T U R E

Kiko’s mind wanders from city to city
— Kiko thinks of the world —

Kiko’s mind flies from planet to planet
— Kiko thinks of the Solar System —

Kiko’s mind soars from star to star
— Kiko imagines a universe

Faster than light
— Kiko’s mind wants to race beyond

— He strays — he cannot

So much for free travel