Forugh Farrukhzad's Life (original) (raw)

Seal not my lips, nor silence me,
let me relate my untold tale
take this chain, which weighs
so heavily on my heart,
off my feet.

O man, you self-centered creature
come forth
open the door of this cage
wherein you hold me prisoner for life
allow me a breath of freedom.

I am the bird that has
for an eternity thought
of soaring to the heights
but whose songs have turned into laments
and whose life has turned into a shell of desires.

Seal not my lips, nor silence me
I have to relate my tale
I must relate to the entire world
my burning tale, my fiery echo.

Come forth and release me
to the clear, pristine heights of poetry
should you allow me this flight
my rose will adorn the garden of poetry.

I readily give my lip and its sweet kiss,
my body and its sweet fragrance,
my look and its hidden flames, even
my heart and its blood-filled laments.

To you, O self-centered creature
not to malign my poetry, not to call it infamy
do you know how confining this cage is
for the liberal at heart? It is confining, it is.

Rather than telling me my poem is sinful throughout
pass me a gobletful of sin and infamy
keep your paradise, your houris, and the Kawthar
but grant me a hut in the depths of hell.

Allow me a book of poetry, some respite, some silence
Allow me my drunkenness and stupor
keep me out of your paradise, I don't care
I have an eternal paradise within me.

At night, when the moon dances
amid the foreboding sky
when I am drunk with desire and you with asleep
I embrace the moonlight.

The zephyr kisses me a thousand times
and a thousand times I kiss the sun
one night, in the very prison you keep me
a kiss shakes my entire existence.

Away with good name and fame,
welcome astonishingly delicious infamy
God who endowed poets with desirous hearts
forgives my sins, I am sure.

Come forth and release me
to the clear, pristine heights of poetry
should you allow me this flight
my rose will adorn the garden of poetry.