The night opened like a black tulip in the sky
concealing crimes and secrets.
The sun, that circle of yellow wax, melted
in the horizon.
In my eyes filled with horror
darkness stretched its hands from every corner.
Cradles yawned like tired mouths,
empty of longed for children.
Deep in my heart raged a pain
for which false promises became opium.
What demon invaded my body
to change my unworldly contentment to voracious hunger?
How could my eyes once pure like Eve’s
be tempted by a sheaf of wheat?
Once like a cypress I stood tall and free,
now a vine, beggar’s hands, from head to toe.
Now, I sell my prayer rug for a table cloth,
change my prayer stone, alas, to a bread crust.
Simin Behbahani’s English Translations from the book entitled A Cup of Sin Courtesy of Syracuse University Press
