Sohrab Sepehri Persian Poetry Translated To English Poetry

Sohrab Sepehri (From Footsteps of Water, 1965)

I went, went to the gatherings of the world.
And I saw things, things in this world.

The battles we fought,
The defeats we endured,
The struggles we witnessed,
And the triumphs we rejoiced.


The triumph of a poet over the army of an age,
The triumph of rain over narrowness of a passage,
The triumph of a dove over the locked porch of a cage,
The triumph of the stretched arms over the crack of a bridge,
The triumph of a horse of sticks, over the cemented face of a town,
The triumph of two dolls and a ball over the void of a New Year’s Eve!
And the triumph of spring over the cycle of seasons!


Translation: Maryam Dilmaghani, December 2008, Montrea