As the shadows lengthen on the sleeping tree
Nor you nor I know what the morrow'll be,
Bear with me – this verse'll the chapter close
Indulge one last time a poet's fancy.
Sentiments that sealed lips did not betray,
Words that I oft was afraid to say,
Fearing Youth's headiness would make you scoff,
Storm past the barriers – laugh if you may.
When away you've been in a distant land,
Life's dusk is drawing near close at hand,
These words may yet another Dawn reveal,
Another morrow help a night's gloom transcend.
You're young now, life's tide is at the peak,
Each prayer grants you just what you seek,
One day with effort will their joints unfold
Fingers – that with grace stroke your cheek.
If at times you're alone and feeling scared,
Pretences stripped and reality bared,
No force will then dare you to touch,
If you for others too have cared.
Remember when you walk a lonely way,
A helping hand on a stumbling traveler lay,
Pass not by with disdain – In tolerance grow,
Nor let your smile another's faith betray.
Look around you – There's lots yet to feel,
Bleeding wounds that bleed, no balm can heal,
Stop awhile -- could not these wounds be yours?
With gentle touch the flow seek to seal.
Dead souls, spirits about to break
Lost, groping, unsure what to make
Of life- you'll meet them oft enough
For the blind a little sight forsake.
In your journey will you shed a tear,
Seeing old men a youthful burden bear ?
Smile, waking to a bird's carefree “Hullo”
Break down the walls Nature's song to hear.
Let your senses wake and your heart be free,
Smell the rose when others the thorns can see,
Seek not to quench the passionate fires of life,
Behind flashing flames though dying embers be.
Perchance the day will come, I do not know,
In casual encounter we'll say “Hullo”
And turn away our separate paths to walk,
Estranged by Time's rushing flow.
I'll see you then as when I write,
And wonder if what I wrote was right,
Tho' poets are fools , captives of their senses,
Their words, like stars, diffuse the night.
My pen has writ what I could not say,
Cherish my words -- do what you may,
My solace is I claimed the right
To share with you some thoughts tonight.
Written in 1979 for a very close friend when she had to flee Iran after the revolution
