Kabul

by Majid Naficy

But Larks have not forgotten to fly

And grass still sprouts from the earth of Kabul

And rivers are replenished by the snows of Pamirs

And the groves of Samangan are filled with sounds of birds

Tahmineh will stand by the road

Unveiled, with gleams of joy in her eyes

And Rostam will dismount Rakhsh

He'll see no ordeal facing him

But love, love only love

 

Thus the cannons will go silent

and the tanks rust under the green moss

And the soldiers return to their garrisons

And the turbaned to their temples

And the children to their desks

And the country girls will come to the city

Shouting in the alleys:

"Flowers! Flowers! Flowers!" 

And the old poet of the city of Toos[1]

Will look toward the east

From the balcony of his garden

And say in the sweet words of Dari:

"Ah, Kabul! Do not suffer any longer

Or shed your blood in vain

Roodabeh will untie her hair again

It falls from her high balcony

And Zal will rise to his love"

 

                                                                   November 13, 2001

 

    [1]Ferdowsi of Toos is the great Persian epic poet who wrote Shah-Nameh a thousand years ago, in which Roodabeh, the daughter of the king of Kabul gives birth to Rostam, the greatest Iranian mythical warier.