Volume 6 | Issue 1 | April - May
2012 |
The Gap
Ahmad Shamlou
To be borne
on the dark spear,
like the open birth of a wound.
To travel the unique exodus of opportunity
throughout
in chains
to burn on one's flame
to the very last spark,
on the flame of a reverence
found by the slaves
in the dust of the way,
thus
thus red and coquettish,
to bloom on the thorn-bush of blood
and thus tall and proud,
to pass through the scourge-field of degradation
and to reach the extreme of hatred …
Oh, whom am I speaking of?
The living with no reason we are
conscious to reason of their death they.
Translated by:E. Khoi
Ahmad Shamlou - Ahmad Shamlou (December 12, 1925 - July 23, 2000)is Iran's most celebrated contemporary poet. Shamlou was prominent
both as a great historical literary figure and as a major poet. He was a journalist,
a playwright, a translator and a broadcaster. His historical contribution to
the reformation of Persian poetry has been the subject of many books. His poetry
has been translated into several languages, however it remains a relatively
undiscovered treasure in the West. He was a humanist and a socially minded intellectual
who has skillfully woven personal love and affection together with his social
attitudes. He lived always with hope and passion for justice.
