Persian Samples 3
This week, Persian poetry page presents Sohrab Sepehri.
An Oasis in Moment- By: Sohrab Sepehri
This poem is difficult for me to explain. Many believe that his poems are rather poetic paintings than a poem. The atmosphere in his poems is sometimes puzzle-oriented, yet fresh and interesting. Most of the images in his poems have no sensible and sensitive composition. For example, somewhere in his poems he says, " I saw a goat eating a kite!" Basically, he was a painter. He died at the age of 59, some twenty years ago, but he could strongly attract the attention of almost the entire country. One of the new aspects in his poems is inviting everybody to wash his eyes and look at things (surroundings) differently. Some of his works have remained mysterious till now as he (almost) never replied to the questions about his works and never let the people know that what the critics and literary analysts were saying about his works was right or wrong. In this poem, which has been engraved on the stone of his grave, he says, " I am behind nothing if you are looking for me!" Nevertheless, he believes that there is some place behind "nothing". He believes that from behind the 'nothing' of the air, there appear some messengers who enable the flowers to blossom. It was from behind the nothing that one morning the brave heroes completed their missions by seeing their beloved and sacrificing themselves. And maybe, it is from behind this nothing that when the leaves become ready and want to kill their thirst, the rain will begin to pour. However, man is alone behind this nothing. He ends his poem by saying, " if you come to (see) me, come slowly and gently, and don't let my fragile loneliness break!"
