Mehri Yalfani: Novelist, Poet, Short Story Writer

 

 

 

My Story

 

 

 

My story is written on clouds

Melting in rain

Flowing in rivers.

 

My story is written on the leaves

Waving with breeze

To caress the skin of

The desperate people

People wandering on the sea

Looking for their memories

Lost in rubble.

 

My story is written on the walls

Of a remote alley

In an unknown town

To be read by no one.

 

My story is written

On the waste papers

Scattered all around the world.

Lost in the remote lands.

 

I am wondering

Who is going to read my story?

Written with the words

Unreadable to no one.

 

 

 

 

Jan. 16, 2016

 

 

 

 

No, this is not me

 

 

No, this is not me

Standing at the threshold

Of nothingness

Looking at a horizon

Lost in a heavy fug

Of carelessness.

 

No this is not me

Looking for a tree

Giving me shade

And breeze

Caressing my skin

Burned of ignorance.

 

No, this is not me

Watching a baby in tv

Just being borne

And her mother lost in rubble.

 

No, this is not me

Lost in a world

With too much noises

For nothing.

 

 

One upon a time

 

 

Once upon a time

There was a girl

Lost in her dreams

None of them came true.

 

Once upon a time

There was a girl

Lost in her wishes

All were fakes.

 

Once upon a time

There was a girl

Lost in tales

Searching for joy.

 

Once upon a time

There was a woman

Lost in books.

And found her true love.

 

Once upon a time

There was a woman

Lost in words

And never was found.

 

 

 

In the memory of Mehrdad Yalfani

A song in eternity

 

 

In the twilight of a cold day

A sapling was saying goodbye

To the light

To the joy of breeze.

 

The sun was wandering

To rise or hide behind

A thick cloud of shame.

 

The day was dangling

Between to come forward

Or fade away of sorrow.

 

I’m searching for words

To express how painful

Was your lost

But words are meaningless

And your short life

Sings a song in eternity.

 

 

Jan.7, 2019

 

 

For Marzieh Sotodeh

 

Salvation

 

 

I waited so long at the threshold of solitude

Until my feet rooted in a land

Enriched with avidity

And trees sent me a breeze

With a message of futility.

 

I have to go a long way

A way through a rough path

And my feet are bare

With the wounds of absurdity.

 

But there is a feast

In my way

Among the branches of a tree

With a sparrow

And her chicks.

 

Dec. 26, 2018

Be Patient

 

You never feel alone

When breeze caresses your hands

And leave a message of desert

At your door

 

Be patient,

The wind won’t blow away

Your memories

Written on the walls of your solitude.

 

Be patient

It will rain soon

The birds will wash

Their sorrows

And the river will have a feast

For pebbles, thirsty.

 

Who is going to lament

For the houses

Changed to rubble

And the memories changed to ashes.

 

Let’s be quiet

Words have lost their voices

And me, locked in a land

Without horizon.

 

 

Nov. 20, 2018

Hopeful

 

 

With my hands cold

I plant a sapling in a pot

And wait for sunshine

But a heavy cloud

Rising from the hearts

Of desperate people

Wandering from nowhere

To nowhere.

 

Still I wait for sunshine

Rising from a horizon

Far, faraway

And I have hope.

 

 

 

 

 

Dreamer

 

 

My hands are cold and numb

But I can make a blanket

Knitted with my dreams

And cover me from head to toe

To warm me

When a cold wind

Freezes my bones

 

Sun is shining

giving love and hope

To people with no bread

On their table

But false joys coloring their faces.

 

I’m not pessimist

My hands knitting

Dream after dream

Selling to people lost their homes

I’m a dreamer.

 

Still I go out and greet

My neighbor who doesn’t see me

But says hello to me

And goes her own way

A way reaches nowhere.

 

 

March. 24, 2018

For the children of Syria, poisoned by chemical gas

 

And me

 

 

Such a beautiful April day

Sunshine everywhere

And the spring

Took away

The blanket of winter

Covering him by force.

 

I have to go out

I have to see a sparrow

Sitting on her eggs

Waiting for a handful of seeds

To bring for her by her mate

But alas

There’s war.

 

The children are suffocating by poisoned gas

I don’t have guts to watch them in T.V

What about their mothers?

I’m wondering where to look at

Where the trees are senseless

And me, nobody.

 

 

April. 23, 2018

In memory of Shohreh Yalfani who was executed in 1981 by Islamic Republic of Iran in Evin Prison.

 

Searching For Words

 

 

I’m thinking of you

And searching for words

To explain how painful was your lost

I’m searching for words

But words seem meaningless.

Blank, empty and hallow.

 

You stayed resistant and fearless

Against firing squad

Accepting those bullets in your young body

Shattered by torture

Your heart full of love

And your legacy

Compassion.

 

In your short farewell letter

You wished well for every one

And asked for forgiveness

But what forgiveness

My dear niece?

 

You gave your entire life

And asked for forgiveness?

 

Nov. 23, 2017