Happy Noruz?
By Setareh Sabety
March 28, 2001
The Iranian
today there is no scream in my throat
or flow in my pen
today there is no voice
from neither heaven nor hell
today there is only silence
or maybe a croaking trace of an old yell
and the residue of a laugh long gone
neither smile nor frown makes more than a timid appearance
today in the deepest of places there is only a numbing pain
the kind that lasts so long
you think it was always there
like a taken-for-granted friend
today the tears are lodged in the corner of the eye
never ever wanting to fall
today is when once a year I remember
what will never be again
spring is here
but I am there
in a place that is so far away
so long ago
that no one can come to visit or stay
today I am alone in this nameless place
3 am, Noruz, 2001
Middletown, Maryland
