Reflection for June 17, 2009

Reflection for June 10, 2009

I'M LISTENING

 

I’m listening yet I don’t know

If what I hear is silence

or God.

 

I’m listening but I can’t tell

If I hear the plane of emptiness echoing

Or a keen consciousness that

At the bounds of the universe

Deciphers and watches me.

 

I only know that I walk like someone

Beheld, beloved and known

And because of this I put into my every moment

Solemnity and risk.

 

                Sophia de Mello-Breyner

                Translated from the Portugese

                        by Lisa Sapinkophf

Reflection for June 3, 2009

Light Blue Memories

O exiles of the mountain of oblivion!

O the jewels of your names, slumbering in the mire of silence

O your obliterated memories, your light blue memories

In the silty mind of a wave in the sea of forgetting

Where is the clear, flowing stream of your thoughts?

Which thieving hand plundered the pure golden statue

of your dreams?

In this storm which gives birth to oppression

Where has your ship, your serene silver mooncraft gone?

After this bitter cold which gives birth to death -

If the sea should fall calm

If the cloud should release the hearts knotted sorrows

If the maiden of moonlight should bring love, offer a smile

If the mountain should soften its heart, adorn itself with green,

become fruitful -

Will one of your names, above the peaks,

become bright as the sun?

Will the rise of your memories

Your light blue memories

In the eyes of fishes weary of floodwaters and

fearful of the rain of oppression

become a reflection of hope?

O, exiles of the mountain of oblivion! 

- by Nadia Anjuman, November / December 2001

 Translated from Farsi by Zuzanna Olszewska and Belgheis Alavi

Afghanistan Poet - Nadia Anjuman (1980 - 2005)

In 2005, when she was twenty five years old, Nadia Anjuman published her first collection of poetry, Gol-e Dudi (Smokey Flower) to great acclaim. She was hailed for introducing a fresh language and youthful point of view into Dari poetry. Soon after the book's publication, however, Anjuman was beaten to death. Many Afghanis believe that Anjuman was killed by her own husband and his family for the transgression of writing.