Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Tahirih's poem celebrates life and a time of renewal

One of the poems of Tahirih that celebrates life and a time of renewal
may actually have been written on Naw-Ruz. She refers to as the day in the poem:

Sleeper! Sleeper! Wake up now! Your lover is here!
Get up, and brush the cobwebs off your hair.

Now your sweet love has come with love for you.
Wake up, dead lover! Your loved one is here.
The doctor of mercy stands by your bed. Get up! Get up!
No more grief, no more tears!
You-still cold from your long separation-
will now embrace your love! That much is clear! So wan, so worn, and wasted by the Fall-
Get up! Get up! At last the Spring is here.
It's New Year's Day. Life is calling for you. Rise up, you corpse of every dead, past year!

(trans. by Amin Banani and Anthony A. Lee, see Tahirih: A Portrait in Poetry)

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