Volume 6 | Issue 1 | April - May
2012 |
By the River
Nima Yushi
By the river loiters the old turtle.
The day is a sunny day.
The rice paddy is warm.
The old turtle nestles on the warm lap of her sun,
And sleeps by the river.
By the river only I
Am weary of desire
Waiting for my sun
But my eyes don’t see it anymore.
My sun has veiled herself
In faraway waters.
For me
Everything is shining everywhere
Either of my tarrying
Or my hurrying,
It is only my sun
not shining
by the river.
Edited by: Christina Pacosz
Nima Yushi - Ali Sfandiari (1896-1959), the father of modern Iran poetry, when he decided to publish his poems, choose the pen name Nima Yushij, which means: an innovator from Yush (a village in the north of Iran). A simple shepherd, the son of a farmer, started a revolution in Persian poetry: Nima Yushij ‘s solitary struggle as a true poet made possible freedom for Persian poetry that was in chains of rhyme and rhythm for long centuries.
