03 December 2008

Banu, Our lady - Simin Behbahani

Banu, Our Lady,

this is my gift to you. Accept it.

This said, he raised his offering

and threw it down the stairs.

On the ground, the sacrificial victim

twisted with pain.

A stream of blood followed his fall.

Silence followed his screams.

A demon had made an offering,

and a person had ceased to exist.

Oh . . . for the child lost so young!

A hundred times Oh . . . for the old mother.

Banu, Our Lady, I dreamt I saw you

in the halo of the moon,

your face pale, your eyes red with sorrow.

In your arms you held two sons,

one perfect like the full moon,

the other radiant like the sun.

You sat beside the corpse,

with the road-dust still on your face,

your soul scalded by sorrow,

your heart tired of arrows.

You complained: O Justice! O Faith!

O, the shamelessness of the brute –

offering me a corpse

and asking me to accept it!

Banu, Our Lady, you shed a deluge of tears

over the man murdered by such ignorance.

You turned your silken coat to a shroud

to cover his body.

O, Banu, our guide! O, Banu, our savior,

O, Banu, unblemished! O, Banu, full of light!


From Archipelago.org Click on the link to find out the inspiration for this poem.






6 comments:

James Higham said...

Er ...

jams o donnell said...

It's pretty dark stuff like a lot of her work

CherryPie said...

A very powerful poem!

jams o donnell said...

I agree Cherie

Sean Jeating said...

Even more than the poem itself I do admire the intention and courage behind.
Thanks, too, for the link to archipelago, Jams.

jams o donnell said...

Agree Sean. It is such a powerful poem.