Encounter
for Cy Strom
You escape
into my eyes
Your silence
rains
on nothing
but now
Etymologies
cling
onto your sweat
and riddles
dispel
magic
I am the dream
you wish
you never wake up
from
You are the ransom
of conflicts
forgotten
The minaret
of your synagogue
recites my azan
I whirl
around earthquakes
of déjà vu
I have
met you—
in lovers not in love—
in love turned lover—
written lines
on the face
you think
is me
You are a godless
shrine
and I take you
with arms
open to faith
Gord-Äfarïd*
At war with the world
at peace with the self—
have I won or lost?
in the bloodless bloodshed
of either-or—
a pahlavan*
of epic silence
Which breast do I dispose of?
being left-hearted
Versifier,
I would’ve challenged you
had I not been the verse
My mirror-smeared
curls of courage
untold for romantic
cover
In bed with the battlefield—
a hero fighting me with love
Taking arms
against the arms of war
I envy the object of my love
At war with the self
at peace with the world
have I lost
or lost?
*Gurdāfarīd, literally “of heroic mettle,” is one of the heroines in the Shāhnāmeh, “The Book of Kings” or “The Epic of Kings”, by Firdawsī. She was a champion who fought against Sohrab, the son of epic hero Rostam. On his quest to find his heroic father whom he has never met, Sohrab encounters a knight in full armour. In the middle of the fight, the unknown knight’s helmet falls off and a woman, Gord_Äfarïd, is revealed. Sohrab stops the battle, falls in love and asks her to marry him. He is rejected on the grounds that “the Turks do not seek consorts from among Iranians.”
*Persian, an ethical hero
About the Poet:
Bänoo Zan has been writing poetry since the age of ten and has published more than 80 poems, translations, biographies, and articles. She is the founder and host of Shab-e She’r (Poetry Night), the most diverse of its kind in Toronto. For more than two years, Shab-e She’r has been bridging the gap between diverse poetry communities, bringing together people from different ethnicities, nationalities, ages, disabilities, religions (or lack thereof), genders, sexual orientations, poetic styles, voices and visions. https://www.facebook.com/groups/poetry.gallery.toronto/
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