On Earth .

I have never wished
to be a star
on the robe of the sky -
or to be like the anointed souls,
silently attending the gathering
of the Gods .

I have never left the Earth .
I do not know the stars .
---------------------------------
Like other plants,
standing on the earth ,
I drink the rain and sunlight -
I breathe the breeze to live ,
to survive .

I am not barren ,
but fertile !
Filled with desire
nurtured by sorrow
I stand on earth
looking up to the moon 
I see the stars hailing ,
praising me , caressing ,
bracing me .

I look out from the tear 
I am no more -
than the echo of a song !
Eternal is not me !
Eternity , not mine !
I am just a note 
the echo of a song !

Steered by the echoes 
of the fading song ,
I build my nest around -
the silence ,
the absence
and the strokes of hands 
sliding on my skin
like the dews of a rose .
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On the walls of my house 
as small as a day ,
as great as the life ,
with the dark chalk ,
and the scalpel of love -
the passers left me notes ;
they carved their names 
and hopes .

On the walls of my house,
as small as a day,
as great as the life ,
the passers let me know
their sorrow ,
their dreams ,
their never told words ;

And these broken words
penetrating my core ,
piercing into my heart ,
they rain , the stream ,
from my hazy eyes ,
like the falling stars !
----------------------------------
From all the lips
caressing my lips ,
the glow of a dew ,
and the seed of a star -
was left to grow -
in my cloudy eyes ,
like keepsakes carved 
on the walls - of my house .

Then why should I wish
for a remote star ,
blinking just at nights ?

        - Forough Farrokhzad .

Translation: Maryam Dilmagani, 
September 2006, Montreal

Courtsey Persian poetry in English.