Paria shamloo biography
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Greatest Wish Song
If freedom could sing a song
small
as the throat of a bird,
nowhere would a wall remain crumbled.
It would not take many years
to comprehend
that ruins are a sign
of human absence,
that human presence
creates life.
--
Like a wound
that drips blood,
life-long;
Like a wound
beating with pain
all one’s life;
Opening eyes to the world
to a howl,
disappearing from it
with hatred.
The great absence was this.
The story of ruin was this.
--
If freedom could sing a song,
tiny,
tinier than a bird’s throat.
(translated by Sholeh Wolpé)
Permission for publication granted by Alef-Bamdad Institute and Shamlou’s official website
This translation first appeared in Language for a New Century—Contemporary Poetry from the Middle East, Asia, and Beyond (WW Norton)