Two poems by Omid Payrow
Has Everything been Said?
"Les fleurs du mal,"
"Mal de siecle,"
Goethe praising "the poet of poets" Hafez,
a squad of industrial words, under Maiakovsky's order,
Varlain's first on Richmund's face and then
"Le ciel par dessus le toit,"
Berton's newspaper cutups,
rhyme, rhythm and passed time of inspiration,
then later when the words' responsibility was mine,
I sculptured them perspiring,
adorning them with the lines of rhyme,
and now
when they are not obedient anymore,
among all this delirium
what is that they are trying to say through me?
Poets used to write their words
- inspiration or mere choice -
now I'm written by my words
into a poem in which
that last line is left to you,
finish my poem................
Stranger
Yellow and fiery
is the autumn just for leaves?
Then how about this yellow dullness
floating from the air, deep into my unknown senses,
and yet if leaves are fading in me
how about the indifference of those on the street
- do they know Pajetta (1) is dead? -
when, what we see of each other is a shadow?
* * *
Once I was understood,
for the length of an interview, not any longer.
* * *
"My birthplace, the star or my childhood,
which one is the furthest?" (2)
* * *
Here I took the light in the daytime to find love.
Love,
Which was so small that I could be hidden deep in my heart.
Love,
which was so great that it could hide me from all.
Love,
which was so dear to be sought all my life.
Love,
which was so divine to make me needless.
Did I forget the password?
* * *
I said: "Hello,"
they ordered "Fire."
* * *
Who will plead for the ugly - those who believe weakness is a superiority in
love-?
Who will feel pity for God's solitude when
we see a couple kissing each other?
- How lonely he must feel -
Stranger, shall we find a common word?
1. Giancarlo Pajetta (1900-1990), was a popular political figure known and respected internationally, and loved by all Italians who called him "Ragazzo Rosso" -- "The Red Boy" -- referring to his years of resistance as a partisan leader in World War II, and later as one of the leaders of the Italian Communist Party. He died a few days before this poem was written.
