بازی Album

بازی

 دستان تو می کنند با مو بازی
موهای تو می کنند بر رو بازی
در رخسارت دو جام جادو و دلم
خواهد با آن دو جام جادو بازی
عکس بعدی ترا نشانده با من
دو بچه می کنند لولو بازی
گاهی دستان ما به هم می چسپد
گاهی ما می کنیم بازو بازی
عکس بعدی  تو با خودت می گویی
شاید قسمت نبوده با او بازی
من می گویم به ما چی ؟این کار خداست
دارد همواره با ترازو بازی
عکس بعدی  دو تا پرنده دو قفس
با دونها می کنند آن تو  بازی
مردم یا بچه های قایم بشکند
یا مشغولند در زن و شو بازی
بعدی
وقتی  ترا بگیرند از من
می میرد زندگی هیاهو بازی
بعدی وقتی تو با منی
می خواهند دریا با دره  رنگ با بو بازی
حالا مژگانم  آهوانی شده اند
دنبال تو می کنند هر سو بازی
 
عکس بعدی تو دست هایت بر مو
موهای تو می کنند بر رو بازی
 

Album

Your hand plays with your hair.
Your hair plays across your face.
Your eyes are two bewitching rubies,
rubies my heart longs to play with.
 
The next picture has you sat beside me,
two children playing 'ghosts'.
Sometimes our hands grip.
Sometimes our arms touch.
 
In the next picture, you say to yourself,
'Perhaps we weren't ever meant to play together'.
But I say, 'It wasn't us, it was god,
playing with our destiny'.
 
Next: two birds in two cages, playing with seeds.
Children in a game of hide and seek,
people playing 'house'.
 
And next, when you're taken away
everything dies: life, its bustle, playing.
 
In the next, when you're with me again,
rivers want to play with valleys,
perfumes want to play with colours.
My eyes want to follow you like a playful gazelle.
 
In the next picture, your fingers run through your hair.
Your hair plays across your face.
 

Album

Your hand is playing with your hair
Your hair is playing on your face
There are two magic cups in your face
I'd love to play with those mystery cups
...
 In the next picture
You and I, we are two kids
And we are playing
Sometimes our hands come together
Sometimes we tie our arms
...
The next picture
You think to yourself :
Perhaps it wasn't meant to be playing with him again
And I think 
It wasn't us it was god
Busy playing with destinies
..
In the next picture
Two birds and two cages
Birds playing with feed and seeds.
People playing hide and seek
Or busy in the games of marriage
 
The next picture
When I lose you 
Life dies, and so does the pleasure of plying
.....
Next
When you are with me, scents play with colours, rivers play with valleys.
Now my eyelashes turned to gazelles
Play on your footprints and look for you
In the next picture
Your  hands on your hair
Your hair playing on your face                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     are on your hair
 
 
 

We ran up against a problem in the first stanza of this poem: Hamid’s literal says, ‘there are two magic cups in your face’ and, in Persian, it’s quite usual to use a glass, cup, chalice, as a metaphor for the eyes – because they contain something intoxicating (forbidden alcohol). Of course, in English, it sounds wrong to compare eyes to a vessel, so we substituted, ‘rubies’ (for their wine-colour).

In the fourth stanza there’s an idea that children playing games, such as hide and seek, become adults ‘playing’ at marriage. The original refers to playing ‘mothers and fathers’, but the English game is always called ‘house’.

Sarah Maguire, Workshop Facilitator

Original Poem by

Reza Mohammadi

Translated by

Hamid Kabir with The Poetry Translation Workshop Language

Dari

Country

Afghanistan