for Ida

Here in this city where I was born

thousands of kilometers away from Teheran

just as much from Paris too

I’ll always be able to have night in the daytime

I’ll always be able to have December after January

I’ll always have to think about the Papal heresy sleuth Casamaris

and about Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror

I will always understand anew

that the river divides its banks

and hope that it will one day

flow over my body like the sea

our pet bird will always be 

a daytime owl 

but I’ll always know how to find your hand

which you will run through my weary hair

and that will always be my chance

to put myself together

here in this city to which I am

exiled from every side

                                             Tr. W. Browne 2024.12.29

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