My footfalls,
few steps behind your footfalls,
in the midst of the foggy night of earth and sky,
resonate.
(I’ve seen you in my dreams one night.)
With every breath, the hearth in my chest,
blows at the bone-crashing chill in the hushed alleyway.
Every exhale turns into clouds in front of my eyes,
carries you like a sacred aura of angels’ mirages.
O’ Goddess of Eternal Nights!
O’ relentless falling star dazing me asudden!
my footfalls, crunching on, are heard
a bit behind your footfalls.
Behold this silent lightless passage
Behold the cold black roarless night
Behold the locked, responseless windows
Hear the horrible howl of hurrying hurricane
See the curtains drawn to the gloomy sore dark truth of the alley!
There’s not a flourishing piece of poem,
not a dark shadow of a person.
In the silence of the night, there’s only our footfalls,
and nothing but.
By every passing moment,
snow, soft and leisurely lies sluggishly
on the ground.
Like a weary old eagle, clouds, descend and
spreads its presence over the earth.
Alleyway, sulks the presence of the clouds.
Fog swallows the whole alley down.
(I’m certain I’ve seen you in my dream one night.)
.
Abouzar Karimi Winter 1998 Iran
Poetry Collection: In the Hollows of Word
Translated by Saghi Ghahraman Spring 2023 Canada