از مرز رد شدی، وطن تو زبان نداشت You Crossed the Border

از مرز رد شدی، وطن تو زبان نداشت

 از مرز رد شدی، وطن تو زبان نداشت
یا داشت، هیچ حرف برای بیان نداشت
ز مرز رد شدی، مثلا  فرض کن وطن  
حالا وطن چه داشت که کل جهان نداشت؟
 
به پیشوازت آن که نخست آمد اشک بود
این یار مهربان که رخی مهربان نداشت
از گرد و خاک غم بغلت کرد این رفیق
چندان که انس داشت به تو، دیگران نداشت
بیماری، آن که سر چلی ات کرد پیرمرد
بس گشته بود قریه به قریه توان نداشت
می خواستی خوشی بخری، صاحب خوشی
قاچاق می فروخت خوشی را، دکان نداشت
از مرز رد شدی مثلا  فرض کن وطن 
حالا  وطن چه داشت که کل جهان نداشت؟
شاعر به پادشاهی بد بختی آمدی 
ملکی که از ازل به سرش آسمان نداشت
ملکی که شاعرانش تجار آدمند
وحی آورش کسی که اصولا دهان نداشت
سگ ها در آن وزیر و وکیل و خران امام
درمسجدش بدون زر وسیم اذان نداشت
می خواستی چه داشته باشد وطن اگر 
بر سفره اش کرور کرور استخوان نداشت
شاعر وطن گذشته دوراست و این زمان 
جز هزل و آز و فاژه و آه و فغان نداشت
ای کاش جای شعر زر و زور داشتی
این حسن لا یزال برای تو نان نداشت
 

You Crossed the Border

You crossed the border: your homeland had no language,
or maybe it had nothing to say.
You crossed the border: imagine it's your homeland.
What did your homeland have that the whole world lacked?
 
First, you were greeted by tears.
This kind friend with an unkind face,
Sorrow, embraced you out of dirt and dust,
a friend who clasped you closer than others.
The sick old man who welcomed you so tenderly
was exhausted by travelling from village to village.
You longed to buy happiness
but only smugglers offered it for sale.
 
You crossed the border: imagine it's your homeland.
What did you homeland have that the whole world lacked?
Oh poet! You have come to the kingdom of misery,
to a land with no sky,
a land where poets trade in humanity,
where the mouths of prophets are stopped,
where dogs are ministers and donkeys are imams.
No calls to prayer issue from its mosques free of bribes.
What on earth did you expect from your homeland?
That its banquet tables weren't piled high with bones?
 
Poet! Your homeland is a vanished past.
Now it offers nothing but insults, greed, boredom and grief.
Instead of poetry, would that you had gold and power -
that sacred talent does no good here.
 

You crossed the border; your homeland had no language

You crossed the border; your homeland had no language
Or did but had nothing to say
You crossed the border of your homeland for example, suppose
What did your homeland have that the world didn't?
 
What greeted you first was tears 
Such a kind friend with an unkind face
From dust and soil, sorrow hugged you
So close that no one else could
The old man of sickness welcomed you tenderly
He was so tired of wandering from village to village
You wanted to buy happiness yet
It was smuggled hence not sold in shops
 
You crossed the border of your homeland for example, suppose
What did your homeland have that the world didn't?
Oh Poet! You came to the kingdom of misery
To the land that never had sky over it
To a land where poets are traders
Its messengers had no mouth at all
Dogs are ministers and parliamentarians and donkeys are religious
      leaders                                                        
In its mosques there was no call for prayers without bribe
What did you want your homeland to have...
If there were no bones on 'sofra' (dining mat)
Poet! The homeland is a distant past
And this time offers nothing but satire and mourning
I wish you had power and money
Because this eternal talent earns you no living.
 

This poem is untitled in Dari, so we chose the first part of the first line as its title.

Reza told us he wrote this poem for a friend of his who returned to Afghanistan for the first time for many years and who was heartbroken by what he found there.

Sarah Maguire, Workshop Facilitator

Original Poem by

Reza Mohammadi

Translated by

Hamid Kabir with The Poetry Translation Workshop Language

Dari

Country

Afghanistan