What Now
poem by mahnaz badihian
For Morteza Miraftabi
and his literary magazine Simorgh
What now?
Now that you’re used
To loneliness
Homesickness
To having and not having
To your empty hands busy with
Shelves and boxes of books
And this untuned music
You hear everyday
What now?
Years passed by us
And you created these poems
And your baby took his first step
You lost in love
And you won it back
You tasted the cold
And heat caused you fever
You cried, you laughed,
The heart of your novels
Stopped at the roadside
In this land
Far from your country
What now
That you created Margaret’s statue?
You gave it soul and existence
Those who couldn’t hear your songs
Those who grew with you
And those who cried
All saw you
On the road in the strange land
You pedaled and pedaled
On the “Cycles of the Universe.”
You talked to
Margaret River’s blackened hair
And played with your pen on
The wings of the Simorgh
Creating the images of
Rumi, Shakespeare and Zoroaster
And the image of love
In the end
All who heard your songs
Will meet you on the heights
Of the Alborz
You, with your hands
Filled with pride
And with the songs of your people.
(Notes: Cycles of Universe is the name of the poem by Morteza Miraftabi. The poem What Now is inspired by a poem called José by Carlos Drummond de Anderade, the great Brazilian poet.)